To Live
by A Dyslexic Writer
Summary: It was only during those final breathes that Ichigo realized just how much he was sacrificing. He didn't want to die. He wanted to live. One final prayer turns into an entirely different adventure as he is reincarnated into a different land that goes by different rules. One thing is clear to everyone, there is something different about Ichi Guo. (a Douluo DaLu crossover)
1. Chapter 1

**I own nothing.**

* * *

It was finished; the Final Getsuga Tenshou had brought an end to Aizen. Its power had overwhelmed him, splitting him in half and ripping his spiritual body to pieces and destroying the jewel that had made him into a pseudo-god.

But as his vision started to fail and his spiritual body began to fall to pieces from his own power destroying him, Ichigo couldn't help but feel like something was wrong. He had won, hadn't he? But this wasn't what winning was supposed to be like.

To lose was for everything you hold true to be stripped from you, and to win was to hold onto what you hold dear and to protect those close to you. It wasn't like life and death. It was something far more important. Winning had always been absolutely everything.

Ichigo Kurosaki couldn't understand it. His family and friends were safe, the world would continue to spin, he had put a stop to Aizen's evil. And yet... he didn't feel like he had won.

He was dying. Why had living never felt so important to him until now? Living had only ever been an extension of winning. Of keeping safe his family, and his extended family, those who were close to his heart. He only needed to live long enough to save them.

He had died before. When he had lost to Captain Kuchiki, he had died. When Kenpachi had overpowered him, he had died. Ulquiorra had killed him twice over. He had always continued, pushing beyond the edge of death in order to protect those who he needed to protect. But now, everyone was safe, and his body was falling to pieces, far beyond even Orihime's powers to repair.

A true realization fell down on his head as he lay there, his body and sword disolving in the air. 'I don't want to die.' Something that would have been simple to your even most mindless creature hit him like a hammer. He had died to keep his family, but with him dead, he would lose them. This dying was beyond the normal state of death. His very spirit was falling to pieces. Reincarnation would be needed to put them back together. There would be no Soul Society for him.

'If... I had another chance... I'd make sure that... I would live.'

* * *

Complete oblivion. The lack of sight, sound or smell was suffocating. Ichigo was feeling himself go insane. So this was what total death felt like. Hell would have been better. At least in hell he would be able to fight, to struggle against the weight of reality pressing down on him. But in this vacuum, there was nothing left to fight. He didn't even have a body to fight with... no... wait.

He could feel his limbs. They were heavy and numb, but they were there. He had a sense of touch. A body that his soul was attached to. Sound... there was a compressing sound. It was somewhere nearby...

Ichigo pushed out his arms, trying to find where this sound was coming from. He's fingers touched a warm surface in front of him, his legs finding the same behind. 'What the hell...' He was suspended in a flood. "It's almost like I'm in a... am I in a... oh god...' The prison he found himself in was getting small and the former Soul Reaper tried to will himself unconscious as he was living through the most horrifying thing imaginable.

He was being born.

As his pale golden eyes struggled to open and he took his first breath, he gave a cry of pure terror. Those last few moments would haunt him for the rest of his new life.

* * *

Ichi Guo sat at the water's edge, his eyes were closed, and his breaths were steady as he focused outside himself to the world around him. He could feel them. The spirits of the individual fish swimming about in the water, but the sense was blurred. He was finding it impossible to untangle the mass of spirit ribbons, to track a single one to its source. To predict the fishes moments.

Letting out his breath, he squeezed his eyes shut harder, trying to get his sixth sense to sharpen. But rather than feeling the individual fish, he felt another presences standing behind him. It was someone he recognized. "Is there something you want, Uncle?" He said, not changing his position on the ground.

The elder of the village was informally referred to as 'uncle' in this land that he had found himself reborn into. Some kind of show of respect. Though it always felt unnatural coming from the boy's mouth and it must have sounded unnatural too, given how people usually reacted.

But the elder Chief, Juo Shin, wasn't one of them, he merely moved down next to Ichi Guo and sat beside him. "Why aren't you are your home? Did they send you away?"

Ichi Guo shook his head. "No, they didn't. But there isn't anything I can do for my momma. It is best for everyone if I am out of the way, even if I want to be there." He said calmly.

"So, you do understand what is going on, don't you." Juo Shin said with a sigh. Juo Shin was old by the standards of this world's humans, being around sixty seven years of age. His hair was grayed and receding and a beard covered his chin. He looked like the image of a comical imprint of an elder from a cartoon rather than a real person. But rather than being the complaining old man, he was understanding and calm. Ichi Guo didn't know what kind of life the man had, but it had given him tired eyes.

"My momma is giving birth. I will have a half brother or sister if nothing goes wrong. Twins if fortune smiles." Ichi Guo said, he opened his eyes, trying to focus on the fish at the moment was impossible. "But things aren't going well. Most likely, momma will die and the baby too. It has only been seven months and two weeks into the pregnancy. Everything is happening too early, and momma has been showing signs of illness."

Juo Shin winced at the sound of the boy's voice. "Did someone tell you this?" He asked, Ichi Guo shook his head. The old man sighed. "You are the strangest two-year-old I have ever seen. But you're right, for the most part. You know, this might be the last chance you get to be with your mother in this life."

Ichi Guo bent inwards, pulling in his knees. "I don't like feeling helpless. How can I just stand there with her and watch her go through that kind of pain, when I can't help her?" He didn't want to have to watch a second mother die.

"Ichi Guo, you are young, so I don't know if you can understand this, but if you do not stay by her side right now, you could regret it for the rest of your life. Trust me when I say... that is a long long time." The old man said, he lifted up one liver spot covered hand and placed it on the boy's head. Ichi Guo closed his eyes again but this time it was to hold back tears that wished to form in his eyes. He didn't trust himself to speak so he just nodded. "Come now, I will go with you."

Ichi Guo could feel the man's free hand using his sixth sense and grabbed it without looking. It wasn't until he knew that the man's back was turned to him that he let his eyes open and let the tears quickly move before wiping them away. He felt a slight shift in the old man's spirit and a cane appeared in his hand as he walked forward.

Ichi Guo had long since gotten used to this world, though at first the sight of essence spirits had shocked him. And though its name, Soul Land, had earned a raised eyebrow from the reincarnated reaper, it did seem fitting.

In this world, every person was born with a spirit essence, which was either an object of some kind, or the spirit of an animal that was buried inside of them. And they could bring them out into the physical world at will, or in the case of the animal spirits, channel the power of the spirit into their body. The type was mostly hereditary and because of this, so was ones station in life, to an extent. Because if someone was born with a pot for a spirit essence, that man would become a cook, whether he wanted to or not.

Juo Shin had been a shepherd all his life, but his essence spirit, a shepherd's staff, still seemed rather fitting, now that he was the leader of the village. Ichi Guo had not gained his essence spirit yet, as it happened during a ceremony after the child turned six. But in his soul he knew what he would find; the slayer of the imagined god, Zangetsu. He hadn't heard a whisper from the old man since he was reincarnated, but he knew that the spirit was there, only waiting for him to be ready for it.

The village wasn't large, few people came this close to the forest, and most of them didn't stay for long. The people who lived there depended on the trade with those who ventured into the forest's depths to hunt essence monsters in order to get by. But this meant that it only took around ten minutes to walk from one end of the village to the other. Meaning it was only around five minutes until he started to hear his new mother's labored cries.

The house was nothing special. Just a single story with two small rooms, one for food and the other being living space. Usually Ichi Guo didn't even bother sleeping there, for two main reasons. First, it was drafty and offered no protection from the elements. The other reason was his step-father.

When Ichi Guo stepped into the house, his step-father, Lang Lee, was sitting at the table, with a frustrated expression on his face as his wife's screams of pain echoed from the living quarters, were the midwives were trying their best to save Ichi Guo's mother.

Lang Lee was not a built man; he was lean and had black hair. The man had been born with an essence spirit suited to combat, iron knuckle platted gloves, and power to go with it. The difference was like the difference between a normal soul in the Soul Society, and one that could produce spiritual pressure. No matter how faint, it made them stronger than the others.

Such people would train themselves to use their power and would become something called a 'Spirit Master' which was similar to a Soul Reaper, only less organized.

But he failed in his training, never breaking past the fifteenth rank, or level, on the scale of zero to a hundred, a pitiful score. So he stopped trying to advance as a spirit master and became a 'guard' in the small town, accepting both his wages as a spirit master and that of a guard, even though all he did was sit around scratching his ass all year, round as far as Ichi Guo could tell.

Lang Lee's mouth twitched at the sight of Ichi Guo, but he didn't say anything with the village elder in the room.

He hated Ichi Guo. The boy knew it, and he understood. The man only wanted his pretty mother; he didn't want to have to deal with a brat kid. Not to mention how strange that kid was. Ichi Guo hadn't lost a single ounce of the intensity of his last life's eyes, and he didn't act like a two year old child. It was the reason why he refused to let the boy take on the family name, and Ichi Guo had to make one up for himself. Something that he actually liked.

His given name being Guo was supposed to have been a slap at him, as the name referred to bones or worthlessness. But once he was able to choose his own surname, Ichi, it made his new name sound close enough to Ichigo for him. Especially since almost everyone always said the whole thing every time, unless they called him Xiao Guo, meaning junior in a familiar fashion, the same way Guo-kun would have back in his first world.

"Come on, Ichi Guo." Juo Shin said pulling him past his step-father and towards the door. "Ichi... if something goes wrong... you might be staying with me for a while." The old man whispered, it was his way of saying that, without Ichi Guo's mother about, he would more than likely not be allowed to live there anymore.

"I know, Uncle." Ichi Guo said back as the door opened as he walked into the room with the screaming woman and frantic midwives who couldn't even really call themselves healers.

Ichi Guo hardly recognized his mother, her face contorted with pain, the tears on her cheeks wronging her looks. The beautiful black hair she was so proud of was knotted and thrown about her as she kicked and writhed. Ichi Guo could see the blood dripping out between her legs. She was bleeding more than she should have been. By the looks of it, nearly a quarter liter had been lost already. Ichi Guo could feel her energy weaken by the second. Her spirit's attachment to the body straining. She wouldn't make it.

Ichi Guo closed his eyes and swallowed hard. He felt Juo Shin giving him a slight push on the back, leading him forward and making him grab onto his mother's hand. She didn't even realize he was there.

"She's been like this for three hours now. I can't think of anything to do." One of the midwives said. She was tired, physically and emotionally drained. Regardless what people said, the average labor is not to horrific an event, but when things went wrong... "We don't even know if the baby is still alive or if it has already died."

"She's alive." Ichi Guo mumbled. He could sense it, the baby's soul was clinging onto life much harder than the mother's. But at this rate, neither would live long. Old memories drifted through his mind. Memories of his father from his past life telling him about the medical profession.

During conception, blood is used to coat the surface where the eggs settle. It acts the same way as spreading out fertilizer in a garden. Usually, everything is fine, the amount of blood is trivial, and is washed out every month if the egg doesn't fertilize, 'that time of the month'. But occasionally the blood doesn't stop coming, it spreads over the wall of the uterus and can cause problems. Especially when it blocks the exit for the baby, or it cuts off the air supply. By the looks of it, both were happening, causing the baby to try to fight its way out before drowning in blood while the mother bled out between her legs.

All this knowledge came back to the child, but none of it did him any good. He was just a two year old, and this town didn't have a doctor that could remedy the problem. There had been a way for him to help, but he only knew a little theory behind it.

Kaidou, the way of healing, a branch of Kidou that uses spiritual energy to stimulate the body in such a way as to promote proper healing and the creation of new cells. It had to do with the natural flow of energy inside of the body, but Ichi Guo didn't know it. What a waste all his fighting in his old life seemed like at that moment. Why had he not studied medicine, or learned magic? Fat lot of good being able to break someone fingers did him in this situation.

He... he could try to sense the connections.

No, that was stupid. He wasn't a genius, he had just been a hard working idiot who could throw a good punch. He wasn't Yoruichi, he wasn't Urahara, Uryuu, Rukia, dammit, even Chad had more skill in sensing and controlling energy than he did.

Even so, he had to try something.

Reaching out with his free hand he placed it on his mother's swollen belly and took a deep breath, trying to ignore how she writhed beneath his fingers. He needed to focus. He needed to push his knowledge and skills beyond the limits that held him back. He reached out, finding her fading white spirit ribbon, and then he slowly began to unwind it.

Failure after failure, each time he thought he had managed it, the delicate ribbon would tear and fall to pieces. But eventually he managed to hold the threads together, and the connections became clearer and clearer.

His mental eye worked on mapping it out and memorizing it as fast as he could. He might not have been a genus like Uryuu, but he had always had a knack for memorization. Then came the hard part, or at least, the part that would be hardest to explain later.

His small hand slipped out of his mother's crushing grip and he kept one finger extended, a finger that began to glow. "What the devil..?" The whisper hardly made it through the woman's screams and Ichi Guo disregarded it completely as his finger met the needed points.

First thing he had to do was stop the bleeding, reinforcing the blood pressure in important regions and cutting down the flow to others. Next would be delivering the baby by removing the obstruction and tension of the muscles that weren't ready for the child. Finally, he had to figure out how to stimulate the creation of more blood cells.

By the time it was over, the child's limited energy reserves were running out and he was struggling to maintain consciousness. It was only the soft cries of a baby that were keeping him awake. "Ichi Guo... would you like to say hello to your new baby sister?" The elder said, lowering a bundle to where Ichi Guo could see it.

Ichi Guo stared at the small baby. She looked so innocent. She was to be his sister. Memories flooded his mind, memories of Ichigo's family. Of the people he had died to protect. The ones who had given his first life meaning. This was to be his real new begging. Something for him to strive for.

He reached out and stroked the baby's cheek as it cried. "Don't worry... you're safe. I'll protect you..." The baby had yet to be named, and her parents would probably be the ones to pick it. But Ichi Guo wanted to have a name for his sister. He considered naming her after Yuzu or Karin, but that felt wrong, choosing one over the other of the twins from his old life. So he decided to name her after his unofficial sister. "...Rukia." He said before fainting in his seat.

One of the midwives went over to Juo Shin's side. "Elder. The boy used spirit control. A two year old." The woman said in shock.

"Hush." Juo Shin snapped as he put the baby into a waiting crib. The mother had passed out the moment the baby had been delivered and the father would be in at any second. The last thing they needed was for that man to know about his step-son. "Do not speak of it to anyone. There is still four more years until he turns six. Let him have some time."

Juo Shin moved over to the exhausted child and pushed a hand through his orange hair. "You really are something, Ichi Guo. You really are."

Those who were born with any spiritual power above others were not free. Not in the country of Terra Duo. They would take him away to be trained. They would turn him into a soldier for the Holy Empire of the Spirit Hall. Juo Shin wouldn't be able to hide it forever, but he could at least buy the boy a little time to have a short childhood before they found him. He would not let them take him from his family yet.

He didn't realize that childhood was something long gone to the boy. Nor that his mother would not remain loyal to her son, as she choose her husband's stable life over the boy, kicking him out of their house just months after he had saved her life. Beautiful as she had been, Lang Du, had been a whore, trading sexual favors for her livelihood. It was the origin of Ichi Guo and the reason she married Lang Lee.

However, this would not stop Ichi Guo and his half-sister from becoming close. She was to be his family, his reason for strength. The beginning of what would one day grow to be the legend of the Reaper Douluo.

* * *

 **I've been reading a Manhua (Chinese equivalent of a manga or comic) called Douluo DuLa or Soul Land, and thought it would be an interesting kind of thing to do a crossover for. Not that anyone would have read it. They don't even have it as an option for stories on this site as far as I can tell. But it is actually a ready good story and has like 160 something chapters up right now.**

 **Go check it out.**

 **It has a fanfic like premise, but in a good way.**


	2. Chapter 2

**I own nothing.**

* * *

A six year old Ichi Guo was crouching in a tree around three meters off of the ground, a blind fold placed over his eyes. Eyes would only deceive him, out in the elements everything had evolved to protect itself from wondering eyes either through camouflage or hiding within the bushes. Even the chattering calls of birds, meant to grab attention, were hard to follow as they echoed around the dense trees, making them hard to spot.

But Ichi Guo wasn't out there at the edge of the woods for the birds. He expanded his search until he found what it was he was looking for, a fat rabbit. With Fall coming to an end all the animals were preparing for winter's unforgiving season, fattening themselves up. This rabbit was a good fifty four meters away. But Ichi Guo had already decided on it.

Slipping out of the tree, he fell the three meters to get to the ground and landed lightly on his feet before rapidly accelerating forward at a speed that would make most people go slack jawed in amazement. The Shunpo felt sluggish to the ex-Soul Reaper who couldn't help but remember the days when he could cover an entire kilometer in a single step, but it was more than enough to catch the rabbit as he covered the ground between him and his target in three quick steps, getting to the rabbit before the leaves from the tree could even reach the ground.

His fingers wrapped around the scruff of the rabbit's neck and he pulled it up out of the bush where it had been hiding. The rabbit barely had enough time to be shocked before Ichi Guo quickly twisted his fingers around the neck. It didn't feel any pain. "Sorry little guy. But a man's got to eat." He said gently before putting the now dead rabbit into a bag he had been carrying with him and heading back towards the village.

It had been four years since he started to live with the elder of the village, and almost no one knew that it was Ichi Guo who was providing for the old man more than the other way around. He had started hunting early, using it as part of his training. His spiritual energy was one of the strongest in the village, with only the actual Spirit Master ahead of him in raw power. But the young boy had found that he seemed to have hit a dead end and that his power wasn't getting any stronger no matter how hard he trained it.

Within this world one had to unlock their essence spirit in order to go any higher.

So with power hitting a dead end, it was technique that took up priority. His Shunpo had progressed pretty well, as had his ability to channel spiritual energy to other parts of his body to increase durability and strength. But even so, without his old raw power to back them up, their uses were limited. He could only do around twenty Shunpos a day before he was bled dry of power, though his six year old muscles wanted to give up after around seven.

Coming out towards the edge of the village, Ichi Guo could feel her even before she started shouting at him. "Ichi-nii!" Rukia shouted as she ran out next to him and threw her arms around her brother's shoulders. "How's your training been going, Ichi-nii?" She asked in Japanese.

Ichi Guo had taught it to her and they remained the only ones in the entire village, perhaps the entire country, to know it. It was their secret code, where they could say anything they wanted without the adults understanding. She picked it up faster than Ichi Guo would have believed, but that was kids for you.

It infuriated her father how much time she spent with her half-brother, and the fact that she refused to answer to anything but Rukia, though they had named her Lang Mei. It was clear who she was choosing, and the fact that they had their own language to make fun of him with was the icing on the cake.

"It's going alright. How about you?" Ichi Guo said giving his little sister a grin before ruffling her short raven black hair. Originally, it had been long, in the style of the region, but after someone said that the girl looked like her mother, she had taken scissors to it herself. Now it was short and had a sort of controlled chaotic look to it, surprisingly making her actually look like Kuchiki Rukia, only with silver eyes instead of purple. That, and the grin that was always on her face. You rarely saw Kuchiki Rukia grinning, unless the hundred year old soul was plotting something or performing one of her famous 'human' acts.

Rukia smiled back up at her brother as she tried to swat his hand off of her head. "I'm getting better, want to see!?" She said, pulling a long wooden stick off of her back. She looked around and saw a downed tree and walked up to it.

Ichi Guo felt her starting to channel energy into the wooden stick, making it harder and giving it a slight edge like force. It still wasn't sharp or as hard as good metal, but when she brought it down on the partially rotted log, the fallen tree splintered a bit around the point of impact. A good, solid hit that would have been able to break bones.

"I'm creating a monster." Ichi Guo chuckled as his sister gave him a huge grin. "But you aren't focusing your power enough. Watch." Ichi Guo said as he walked up to the log, pulling out his own wooden sword. He channeled his energy, and struck. The blade passed right through the dead tree, cutting it clean in two. Rukia clapped at the display. "Did you see the difference? I didn't use any more power than you did, but I controlled it a bit better. Remember, a sword is meant to cut, not just make an impression."

"Let me try again!" Rukia insisted, pushing forward and holding up her sword. Her second attempt was the same as her first. Her shoulders sank a little.

"Don't worry. You'll figure it out with time." Ichi Guo said, patting her on the back. "You just need a bit more experience." Then he looked off to the east a little. "Speaking of which, do you sense them?"

Rukia blinked and then closed her eyes, focusing. "Yeah... essence monsters. Just a small group and they're young."

"How many, and how young?" Ichi Guo tested his sister.

"Um... four? And I don't think any of them are older than twenty years." She said, screwing up her face in concentration.

"Alright, I'll give it to you, though I'm pretty sure that they're all only twelve years, so your second answer was a bit on the far side." Ichi Guo said, praising the girl with another pat on the head. "So, how about some practice then?"

Rukia looked at him in surprise. "You mean, against essence monsters?"

"I'll be right here if anything goes wrong. But I doubt you can't handle a group of such weak monsters." Ichi Guo said encouragingly. Rukia seemed a little nervous but nodded anyways. It was natural to be nervous when trying new things. But that was why training was important, to internalize the needed response to the situation, to calm the mind and keep the body from freezing up.

The two approached the monsters quietly, better to get a feel for the situation before diving right in. It was four little monsters alright, ghost wolves. The hounds were only around half a meter tall and a meter long, their black coats covered in white lightning shaped patterns along their bodies and tusk like teeth growing out at an awkward angle for actual use. Like all monsters, even though they were around twelve years old, like Ichi Guo had guessed from their essence levels, they were nowhere close to full grown.

Monsters were not like humans, they didn't grow old and die, they simply grew more powerful with age, though their growth was really slow when compared to humans.

A ten year old monster was a joke to deal with, and could probably be handled by someone with no spirit essence at all, though a child without any would be pushing it.

A hundred year old monster was more of a challenge, requiring at least some level of spirit power to take down or some clever tactics.

Once you get to a thousand you need some heavy duty power to help you out, and passed that were the ten thousand and hundred thousands. In his mind, Ichi Guo equated a thousand year old spirit with a Gillian type Menos, with a ten thousand being an Adjuchas and a hundred thousand being a Vasto Lorde level.

So far, Ichi Guo could handle a lower hundred year by himself, but he was pretty sure that if he ran into a thousand year, that he would have to turn tail and run.

The ghost wolves had taken down another ten year type spirit monster, this one a prussian claw, a sort of black cat like monster, and they were at work eating their kill. "The poor kitty." Rukia mumbled sadly. But then she started to move in, using their distracted state to get the jump on them.

Unfortunately, she forgot to take into account the direction of the wind. The wolves smelled her long before she was ready to strike and the ghostly wolves faded into the tall grass, showing that their name was well earned as they seemed to disappear from sight.

Rukia realised her mistake and quickly tried to find their spiritual presence, frightened when she found that they were trying to surround her. Feeling the first approach, she turned towards it and got it in the head the moment it became visible with a two handed swing. The wolf yelped and fell to the ground, unconscious, but not dead.

It was to be Rukia's second mistake as the others now had a clear shot at her back. Her footing had been good for a one on one fight, but to battle groups, you needed to be lighter on your feet and the two handed style required one's feet to be planted. The three hounds jumped at her as she tried to turn around, but before they could reach her Ichi Guo was at her side and pushed them all back with one swing, catching each of them and knocking them through the air.

"Don't focus too much on any one enemy. Parry and try to get outside of their ring, only commit if there is nothing at your back." Ichi Guo instructed his little sister as he moved back behind her and let her take over again.

Rukia nodded and stepped forward as the wolves got back to their feet. They were too close to fade into the background, and even if they had, Rukia was now locked onto them, so they ran forward in a group.

She sidestepped the first one, hitting it with a swipe to its stomach as it went by, but never leaving the ready sword position. She cracked the second on the head while in a jump to the side to get out of the way of the third and to put the first and third back in front of her again.

Taking a calming breath, she waited for the wolves' next move. But seeing how quickly their brothers were dealt with and how it was now two on two, the wolves turned and ran into the bushes, abandoning the fight.

After they had moved a safe distance away, Rukia let out a sigh and lowered her wooden sword. She nearly jumped when her brother started to pat her on the head again. "Not bad little sis, you're getting better. At this rate it's only a matter of time before I need to worry about my status as the strong one." Ichi Guo joked as his sister tried to get away from the hand that was determined to mess up her hair.

"What are you talking about? I messed up. You had to save me." She pouted angrily.

"Small mistakes, ones that you won't make again. More important was the fact that you recovered after those mistakes and kept moving." Ichi Guo said giving her a short pat on the back to push her towards the village. "Speaking of moving, it's getting late. You wanting to have dinner with uncle and me or are you heading back to the old farts place?"

"I'm going with you and uncle. I don't want to be around mean old farty face." Rukia said, puffing out her cheeks and starting to run back towards the village with her brother moving a short distance behind her.

"She's going to be a monster, just like her namesake, just in a slightly different way."

* * *

"No, don't go, Ichi-nii!" Rukia cried in Japanese as she grabbed onto her older brother, not wanting him to go towards the wagon that had come to take all of the six-year-old children to the temple to have their spirits awaken and to see if they would be worth training. "I don't want you to! If they find out how strong you are, you won't be allowed to come back!"

Several other people were crying similar things to their beloved children, in fear that the son or daughter might never come back home to them. In the mess Rukia's cries were hardly noticed, nor was Ichi Guo's calm demeanor.

"Come on, Rukia. I'll come back." He said patting the girl's head. "I promise you that I won't leave this place until you do. If they're going to get us, then they're going to have to take us as a pair."

Rukia sobbed as her brother helped to wipe away her tears. "But they won't let you come back, and I'm four, so they won't test me yet." She said miserably.

"Rukia, I won't let them take me. Just take a deep breath and try to focus. Can you feel me?" Ichi Guo asked his sister. Rukia breathed in a few times and started to check her spirit sensing ability. Ichi Guo could almost see the shock crossing her face as she shook her head. "See, they won't know, so they won't take me. I'll be back tonight and then we can go play together some more. Alright?"

He blinked as Rukia lifted up her hand, her pinkie extended. "Do you pinkie promise?" She mumbled, giving him her puppy eyes. Ichi Guo gave a small smile and hooked his pinkie with hers.

He didn't care what happened, he wasn't going to leave his new little sister.

* * *

The temple was a grand place, in other words, huge. The thing was probably as big as the entire village the kids grew up at, making the knowledge that the rest of their lives were on the line even more intimidating. Though that wasn't the thing that had Ichi Guo himself worried.

Twelve, there were twelve Spirit Masters of varying ranks inside of the building. He wasn't sure if they would be able to sense him if he let his guard down for a second or not. Keeping his power low was hard, he had never been good at it. So not knowing if these people would be able to sense him or not was unnerving.

Your average Soul Reaper grunt couldn't sense spiritual energy, so perhaps it would be the same with Spirit Masters. But he couldn't risk it. Fighting his way out against all of these Spirit Masters would be next to impossible at his current level, and even the addition of Zangetsu wouldn't change that. But if it did come to that, he would put up one hell of a fight.

There were about three hundred children there from the nearby villages. They had all been gathered to the city in order to be screened for possibly gifted children. Any that were found would be sent away to academies to train to become Spirit Masters.

Among peasant villages, the birth rate of gifted children was roughly one in every hundred or so, as spirit power was largely hereditary and only a random mutation could change that. These mutations were rare, and the odds that the child would become even a half decent Spirit Master still wasn't very good, but they did the screenings anyways.

There was a long line up to the alter where a magic circle had been drawn on the floor. The circle that would release the latent essence spirits within the children. Ichi Guo watched as the line slowly went forward and one child after another breathed a sigh of relief as the tests returned negative and they started to actually become excited about their awakened spirits.

Though the spirits were not exactly what Ichi Guo would call interesting; a bowl, a bottle, spoons, a carrot, it all seemed like random clutter to him. After each child stepped on the circle the Spirit Masters would force the child to touch an orb, one that would tell them the child's spirit power rank. Each and every child Ichi Guo watched go up there all had the same rank; zero. No spiritual talent what-so-ever. Though one of the children had been found to possess a rank of four and was dragged off crying.

Whenever the essence spirit was first activated, the highest a person could have was a spirit rank of ten, meaning they only needed to collect a spirit ring from an essence monster in order to become a real Spirit Master. Otherwise the child would spend his time training until he was rank ten before continuing on.

The process was fast, each child taking only about twenty seconds a piece and Ichi Guo found himself standing at the front of the line soon enough.

'Zangetsu... please, don't appear in your full form. Please...' Ichi Guo thought to himself as he stepped on the magic circle.

He felt the power working its way inside of him and forcibly awakening his power. A mark started to burn onto the back of his right hand, the spirit mark that would be the symbol of his essence spirit. The mark was black and looked like a crescent moon. It heated up as the circle tried to force him to summon his spirit item.

"Looks like it's another junk spirit." The Spirit Master in charge of the circle said with a sigh as Ichi Guo held up nothing more than a tassel. "Move along, get your spirit level checked out."

Ichi Guo gave a sigh of relief as he stepped out of the circle and the pressure trying to make the entire sword form disappeared and the tassel along with it. "Put your hand on this." A second Spirit Master said, holding out an orb. Ichi Guo nodded and lifted his hand up, placing it on top of the orb.

His heart sank as it gave off a very light glow. He had been suppressing his power as hard as he could, but the orb was still getting a reaction. For some reason he felt like Uryuu was giving him a smug look somewhere. Damn he wanted to punch that glasses wearing ass in the face.

"What do you know, a rank two. Guess that means you're coming with us kid." The first Spirit Master said. Ichi Guo tensed himself, readying himself to call Zangetsu out in his entirety.

He could probably get the two close-by Spirit Masters before the others realized what was going on. It might be enough of a window for him to Shunpo away before anyone could record who he was.

But before he could take any drastic measures, the two Spirit Masters started to laugh. "Yeah right, a trash spirit like his is worthless, I doubt he could ever become a real Spirit Master. He'd just be another waste of time. Get a move on." The second spirit master said before pushing Ichi Guo towards the group of processed kids.

* * *

Juo Shin looked surprised when Ichi Guo came back into the village with the other children. "You... they didn't take you?" He said to the boy.

Ichi Guo smirked in a not-very-six-year-old manner. "Can't get rid of me that easy, Uncle."

"Ichi-nii!" Rukia shouted as she ran up to her brother and put her arms around his waist. "You really did come back."

"Of course I did." He said, patting the girl on the back. "Come on, I promised you we'd play some, didn't I?" Screaming with delight, they went off towards the edge of the village, out of sight in their own little world. The village elder smiled as they went.

"What did you get, Ichi-nii? Come on, show me." Rukia said, hardly containing her excitement.

Ichi Guo smiled and raised his hand. Spiritual particles started to condense and the long metal sword started to form in Ichi Guo's hand.

Zangetsu looked the same as he had when Ichigo had first become a Soul Reaper. The guard still attached and the tassel from before on the bottom of the hilt. The blade alone was over twice the size of the six-year-old's body. Rukia was looking at the sword with wide eyes as Ichi Guo grinned. "It's good to have you back, old man." He said to himself, even though Zangetsu had not responded to him since he had gotten the sword. He supposed he would have to regain contact all over again, but he had time for that.

He was slightly less happy as he removed his right hand from the blade, turning it over so that he could look at the palm.

Right on the opposite side of his hand from the spirit symbol for Zangetsu was another black symbol, one of a skull like mask with three red lines. 'Looks like you came along for the ride too. Just remember who's in charge, you stupid horse.'

* * *

 **I'm divided between sending IchiGuo and Rukia to Shrek Academy with the rest of the main characters of the comic, or if I should send them somewhere else and have they join them before the continent wide tournament.**

 **Zangetsu is a Tool Type Essence Spirit, while the Hollow Mask counts as a Beast Type Essence Spirit.**


	3. Chapter 3

Three dozen. Three dozen, fifty-year-old wind demon apes circled around Ichi Guo as the boy stood with Zangetsu at the ready. The bright green creatures actually looked more like monkeys since they had tails, but that didn't seem to matter to whoever had named them. They were fast and moved around as a group.

Even so, the seven-year-old Ichi Guo was calm as he waited for them to make the first move. They didn't attack one at a time, but in groups. The first wave of eight of the screaming chimps threw themselves towards the young boy, arms waving about as spit flew from their open mouths.

Giving a short intake of breath, Ichi Guo spun about, the flat of his sword knocking four of them aside in a single swing before he did a half step back and used an elbow to take out a fifth then dodging out of the way of the rest as he turned to a ready position.

More and more of the monkeys came in and he was made to dance about as his sword spun through the air, knocking out more and more of the creatures in a violent storm of blows. It took nearly three minutes, but by the end, he had knocked out more than half of the apes, and the rest wised up and ran.

"Dammit" Ichi Guo mumbled, letting his essence spirit disappear back into its seal.

In the seven months since he had regained his weapon of choice, he had re-mastered it, learning to compensate for the new center of balance that came from the fact that the sword was now way too large for him. He had also practiced with the Hollow Mask, finding that he had complete control over it, even if only one quarter of the mask appeared. But even so, his power had not increased even a little since their awakening.

He knew what he had to do in order to advance. He had to actually kill an essence monster and absorb one of the rings that appeared when the monsters died into one of his essences. But he was hesitating. The entire thing stank of Hollow like actions, killing and consuming a soul. He couldn't convince himself that it was alright. Maybe if the monsters were actually as monstrous as they appeared, rather than just being wild animals. Even these monkeys were only defending their territory from him. They didn't kill for the sake of killing.

So, at the moment, all he could do was train his endurance and hope for the best.

It was while training like this that he discovered that even though he could control either Zangetsu or the Hollow Mask just fine for up to thirty minutes at a time, he couldn't maintain them both. Calling on both spirit essences provided him with a massive power boost, slightly more than doubling his strength output, but he could only use it for about five seconds before becoming completely exhausted of all his spirit energy.

He sighed and started to return towards the village. Five seconds. Would that be enough?

It was raining, the night everything happened.

Rukia was sitting at the table with her 'family', her father and mother not really doing any talking. She hated eating with them. Her mother wasn't as good at cooking as her Ichi-nii and her father always stank of alcohol. Not to mention that they were boring people. While her brother could talk for hours about the nature of spirit power, or tell her fantastic stories, her parents hardly ever had the going arounds of the village to talk about and since the village was so small, everyone knew what happened every day with almost everyone. Only Rukia and her brother ever snuck out of the village to play in the forest. She wished she was over at the village elder's place with her brother instead of with her parents.

A smaller drip could be heard, just barely audible underneath the hammering of the rain on the roof. "The leak. I thought you said you were going to deal with it." Lang Du said to her husband. She was stupid to even mention it, and Lang Lee turned on her in an instant.

"I've been busy! Why didn't you do it!? It's not like you ever lift a damn finger around here!" The man shouted, smashing his hand against the table so that the dinnerware shook slightly. "Oh I think I know why, you were out eyeing those essence monster hunters that came in yesterday morning! You thought I wouldn't notice that you slipped off to the inn, you damn whore!"

Whore. It was a word that was often used by people to describe Lang Du, though Rukia didn't exactly know what it meant. She had asked her brother about it, but he had told her that it had nothing to do with them and that she shouldn't worry about it, changing the subject or distracting her whenever the topic was brought up.

"I... I wasn't." Lang Du said, trying to shrink away from her husband. Not having had enough, his hand came around and struck her across the face, knocking her off her chair and to the ground.

"Bull shit! Everyone knows you're a fucking whore, they just need to look at that freak to figure that out!" Lang Lee shouted at her while she begged for him to stop. He wouldn't.

It was the nature of this world, those who had power could do whatever they pleased. Lang Du committed the ultimate sin, she was weak, and for that she would be punished.

But it wasn't long before the man's eyes spotted his daughter watching the scene. "Don't look at me like that." He growled angrily. "You've been spending time with that freak again; your eyes look just like that brats."

Rukia knew that her father meant her brother when he said 'that freak', though the comment about her eyes couldn't be right. Her brother's eyes were a deep gold while hers were silver. It was probably just more of his stupidity talking. With a grunt, he threw a bottle at her which she simply moved calmly out of the way of.

"All of you! You're all against me! What did I do to deserve being mocked by all of you!?" He shouted, getting up out of his chair, knocking it over in the process. He was stumbling a bit, Rukia was sure that if he tried anything towards her, she could simply avoid it. "All I wanted in life was a beautiful wife and a child of my own. Yet the gods just gave me this crap and called it a day. My wife is a whore and my child loves her bastard half-brother more than her own father." Another word that Rukia had asked her brother about - bastard. It meant that the child didn't have a father. Though the five year old figured that was a good thing. Not having someone like this man that they had to go back to day after day. "Well fuck it, let the gods strike me down right now! Just get it over with!"

A scream echoed through the air, penetrating the rain and confusing the moment. It was only one word, but it made the world stand still. "Monster!"

The world seemed to explode with sounds after that, screams underneath the heavy sound of wood snapping like twigs. "Of course some damned monster would come out in a night like this." Lang Lee grumbled as he went towards the door. His essence spirit started to appear around his hands as he opened the door and stepped out into the night, but after that he froze in the doorway.

Outside, the inn had been smashed to pieces and a cooking fire had quickly spread across the entire wreckage. The smoke and light from the fire outlined a massive form. It was a ghost wolf, but it was nothing like the small ghost wolves that Rukia had practiced against around the outer edges of the woods. It was twice the size of the two room house her family lived in, its curved tusk like teeth were black and had split into a set of three on each side. As it dipped its head into the wreckage of the inn and lifted out a screaming man by his leg, Rukia clamped her eyes closed in order to stop herself from seeing what happened next. But the sound of his screams dying away still made her shiver.

Now that she wasn't distracted by her father, she wondered how she had not sensed the creature earlier. Its presence dwarfed everything she had ever felt before. A dark purple spirit ribbon formed in the air as she focused on the things terrifying essence.

It was a thousand year old essence monster.

It was her mother's shriek that made her open her eyes again. Her father was gone, more than likely fleeing the village. In his rush to save his own life, he must have forgotten about his wife and daughter, either that, or he didn't want to save them.

Staying would be suicide; Rukia knew she couldn't fight against a monster of that size. Whenever they were in the forest, she and Ichi Guo had always used their sixth sense to avoid running into such beasts all together. "Mom, we have to get out of here." Rukia said, grabbing her mother's arm and trying to pull her towards the doorway. The woman was unresponsive and actively fought against her daughter's attempts to drag her away. With her spirit energy, she was overpowering her mother, but the woman was slowing her down. "Mom, please."

She had pulled her all the way out of the house and the rain was falling down hard onto her shoulders. The water made her fingers wet and her mother pulled her hand out of her daughter's. Rukia stumbled away, falling into the mud as her mother backed back into the house, slamming the door shut. It was only a few moments later that the essence monster descended on the small house, crushing it into a pile of splinters.

Rukia could only stare as the place she always hated so much was destroyed right in front of her, taking her mother along with it. The tears didn't come. She only felt numb. Her mind couldn't understand it. But as the monster pulled an arm out of the ruins of the girl's life and turned its eyes toward her, she could only feel one thing; the ultimate sin, weakness. The shadowy form of the monster moved, preparing to lunge at her.

The air rushed through her ears as the beast pounced for her. But before it could reach her, she found that she had been moved a good thirty meters away. "I've got you, Rukia." Ichi Guo said, his arms holding his little sister up bridal style.

"Ichi-nii" She said, her voice unsteady with shock. She threw her arms around his neck and buried her head in his shoulder. She was holding on for dear life.

Ichi Guo didn't have time to check on his sister's well-being, the beast that had already torn up a large part of the village was turning his way, its eyes locked onto him. He had to move quickly. He Shunpoed again and again, moving quickly through the dark night, but while carrying his little sister, his moves weren't nearly fast enough to escape.

Ghost wolves were speed focused monster, and a thousand year old one was frankly insane. The difference in speed was like the difference in speed between Ichigo when he was first starting to learn Shunpo and Yuroichi, the Goddess of Flash. The only advantage Ichi Guo had was that Shunpo could change directions in nearly the blink of an eye, while the wolf had to deal with heavy momentum and ground slick from rain fall.

The monster was no long trying to just wreak havoc on the village, it was choosing to target the two siblings in particular, its anger rising with each failed attempt to land a hit.

Shunpoing in front of one of the village look-out towers, Ichi Guo stood still, waiting for the monster to make its next lunge for them. Then right after its legs kicked off the ground, he shunpoed out of the way, leaving the ghost wolf to smash into the guard tower, temporarily dazing it.

Using the time he had just bought he took his sister to the other side of the village. "Rukia, I need you to be a good girl and wait for me here." He said and he unwrapped his sister's arms and lowered her to the ground.

"Where are you going?" Rukia asked him, though she might as well not have bothered, she saw the way he was looking at the ghost wolf.

"No one gets away with attacking my little sister." He said holding out his right hand as the massive blade of Zangetsu started to appear. "One thousand years. Time to see how strong you really are."


	4. Chapter 4

Ichi Guo's eyes took in the environment around him while his sixth sense kept a lock on the monster, alerting him of its every breath. Whatever had happened, this creature was out for blood. This had nothing to do with a need for food or an invasion of territory. Ichi Guo could sense the murderous intent coming from the elder ghost wolf in waves.

He had managed to gain the beast's undivided attention, for better and worse. Its attacks were furious and its speed could match his own, even now that he wasn't carrying Rukia around. Claws slashed though the air, teeth snapped, but still Ichi Guo continued to evade, swinging his own blade in where he could find an opening.

But it didn't seem to matter where he hit it, the back, the mouth, the stomach, the legs. Everywhere he tried, his blade was met with the massive spiritual pressure of the beast, a pressure that ran through the creature's fur, turning it into a practical wall of needles. The monster's spiritual energy was over six times his own, placing it in a league where Ichi Guo's blade couldn't even scratch its defenses.

Ichi Guo's rank had maxed out at ten since he never absorbed the spirit halo needed to advance further, but a monster of this age was something that rank fifties would hunt. There wasn't even supposed to be one in a forest as young as the one he lived next to.

Time was limited. His legs were already passed their old max on Shunpo usage. He couldn't keep it up forever, or else his body would simply collapse under him.

He observed all of this with a calm mind. Everything was simple. It didn't really matter how powerful the beast was. It didn't matter, because Ichi Guo was going to win.

Resolve. Resolve was everything. It sharpened the spirit, both offensively and defensively. And Ichi Guo had already decided, he was going to kill this wolf. He just had to figure out how.

The wolf was using all its senses in order to track him and him alone. He needed to shake those senses in order to get a clean shot. If he put all he had into one hit, he knew he could finish the job.

As his eyes found the burning ruins of the inn, he couldn't help but have his face twitch upward into a smile as old words played out in his mind. "When you dodge, you don't let yourself get hit." He said as he shunpoed in front of the fire. The wolf was right behind him, not letting him escape. "When you defend someone, you don't let them get hurt." It lunged straight for him, but he shunpoed out of the way. The beast slammed itself face first into the fire.

The fire didn't burn its wet fur, but with the only light source so close, the roar of the fire in its ears and the fumes of the smoke filling its nostrils, all its senses were being blocked. Its head was swinging around, trying to find the boy it had been chasing. "And when you attack someone," A strange, echoing voice continued. The wolf didn't even have time to turn its head upwards and Ichi Guo formed a spirit energy platform underneath his feet, kicking off of it with one final shunpo and moving downwards like a bullet. The upper left side part of his face was covered by a piece of a white plaster mask. His left eyes turned black as his spiritual pressure increased from rank ten to rank twenty five. He was focusing everything he had left into the edge of his sword, sharpening it to the point where it could cut through solid steel. "YOU KILL!"

The edge of his blade started to glow a light blue as he poured every drop of energy he had left into the swing. The hit connected on the back of the wolf monster's neck. The hound screamed as the blade penetrated the outer coating of fur, quickly making its way down to the spine before losing momentum.

The cut hadn't gone all the way though, even with all of Ichi Guo's spiritual energy backing it up. But it had been enough to sever the spinal cord. The monster was dead before it hit the ground, not a single whimper leaving its lips. Ichi Guo rolled off the creature's body, fixing his unsteady legs into a defensive position, not relaxing until he saw the dark purple halo moving out of the monster's body, a clear sign that it was really dead.

The mask dissolved as he collapsed to the ground. His legs were killing him from over use of Shunpo and his spiritual essence levels were so close to hitting zero. It had been a close call, just a few centimeters shallower of a cut and they would have all been killed.

"Ichi-nii!" Rukia cried as she ran over to him, throwing her arms around his neck again. The rain ran down her cheeks, or maybe they were tears, Ichi Guo couldn't really tell.

He reached a tired arm up and started to pat her head. "There there, don't worry. Your big bro won't let anything happen to you." He said as his eyes moved to the purple ring.

'Are you shitting me!?' Ichi Guo nearly shivered at the familiar sound of his Hollow's creeping voice. Even though the voice of 'old man' Zangetsu had never returned, the Hollow had reappeared shortly after Ichi Guo's spirits had been reawakened. 'You're so weak it's pathetic. Even this pushover forced you to pull out all the stops. What are you going to do when the real shit hits the fan?'

'Shut up.' Ichi Guo's retort was weak. He could feel the truth of the words. He could feel it in his arms and legs that reminded him constantly of his exhaustion.

'I refuse to just watch this bull crap! Now stop hesitating! Take that Spirit Halo! Finally grow this weak ass power of yours before you get yourself killed again!' The Hollow shouted.

Ichi Guo gritted his teeth and, giving Rukia one last pat on the head, he stood up on shaking legs. "Ichi-nii?" She said confused as he pulled her hands off of him.

"Don't worry. I will become strong enough to protect you." He said, raising up Zangetsu and pointing it towards the halo. The ring wobbled in the air for a second before dragging itself to Ichi Guo's sword. He staggered as the power flowed into him, then collapsed to his knees.

"Ichi-nii!" Rukia shouted, as an ear splitting scream exploded from her brother's mouth.

* * *

Ichigo was numb all over. "Where... am I?" He mumbled as he looked around him. Everything was covered in fog, just like his thoughts. He couldn't remember what was going on. He couldn't remember where he was. Pain was all over his body. His head was screaming.

"You failure." A familiar, obnoxious voice echoed through the emptiness. Ichigo turned around to see Byakuya standing there, glaring at him. "You simply faded away into nothingness. You gave in and disappeared."

"Wh... what are you talking about!?" Ichigo tried to demand, but a wave of bright pink flowers flooded out of the Soul Reaper Captain, washing over Ichigo. He screamed as the feeling of a thousand cuts poured over his body. There was a blinding pink light all around him, then everything went black.

Ichigo was slow to regain any senses, but when he did, he found his father standing before him. Isshin Kurosaki stood with his arms crossed and his back turned to Ichigo. "We put all our hopes in you, and then you just went off and died!" He barked angrily, turning to Ichigo so that he could see the angry look on the man's face. "I can't believe I thought you could match Aizen. You lost, and died like a dog for it. You're a disappointment. All that time I spent training you. What a complete waste."

"No... I didn't... I did everything I could! I had to use it!" Ichigo cried, trying to move towards his father, but the image disappeared before he could get there.

Looking around, he could see that the fog was lifting. He was in the ruins of a city that had once boasted massive skyscrapers, all that was left of his own inner world. Decay was everywhere he looked. The atmosphere was suffocating him.

Then he heard it, a voice he missed so much. "How could you?" He turned his head to see her, standing there in the middle of the ruins. Her bright purple eyes were rimmed with tears. "You never came back. After everything that happened, you just left me. How could you just replace me?" Ichigo couldn't find anything to say. He felt like something was stomping on his chest, like hands were wrapped around his throat. "You should have just stayed died."

A dark hole opened up underneath Ichigo, dragging him down into its dark depths. "You should be dead!" "You were weak!" "How could you leave us!?" Voices, so many voices. His little sisters, Chad, Orihime, Urahara, Yoruichi, Renji... all of them screaming at him. How could he just keep going, knowing that he had let them all down.

"I... don't deserve... to live..." Ichigo mumbled as the darkness spread over him.

"Damn it, you moron! You were supposed to be devouring its soul, not the other way around!" The Hollow side of Ichigo shouted angrily, but the words weren't reaching his ears. "Get up stupid! You can't let it win! King! Hey, don't you ignore me! Damn it, where is the old fart when you need him!?"

"I... shouldn't be alive." Ichigo said, his spiritual power was starting to waver as his soul began to break down.

"Ichi-nii!" Ichigo's eyes snapped open as a small purple jewel appeared in the air in front of him. It seemed so familiar and glowed with a soft white light. "Please don't leave me! Please! I don't want to lose you too!" His new little sister's voice echoed, drownding out all the other voices.

"Ru...kia..?"

"Ichigo." The jewel transformed into Old Man Zangetsu. The man's dark wavy hair looking the same as it had always. "Regardless of the past, you cannot fail here. There is still someone who relies on you, and so you must keep going." The old man lifted his hand into the air and seemed to grab onto an invisible cloth, pulling it hard.

The world distorted around him and his inner world had returned to normal, and standing in the center of one of the rooftops was the Ghost Wolf. The monster's soul was struggling to regain its effect on Ichigo's soul, but was finding it impossible. The creature growled, its dark purple aura flaring up around it.

Ichigo bared his teeth back as he slowly started to realize what had happened. The soul of the monster had tried to trick him, using his own memories to inflict wounds upon his soul. "Sorry, you overgrown mutt, but there is someone waiting for me, so I'm going to have to cut this sort!" Ichigo raised his hand above his head and Zangetsu appeared in it. " **Getsuga Tenshou!** " The wave of blue light flew through the air and quickly split the monster's spirit in half. The low howl rang through the inner world as Ichigo's soul soaked up the spiritual energy.

* * *

Ichi Guo opened his eyes, the rain was still falling and he was laying down in the mud with his little sister leaning over him, tears were definitely coming down her cheeks this time. "Ichi-nii, please wake up!"

"Who could sleep through all this noise?" Ichi Guo chuckled as he raised a hand to wipe the tears from the girl's eyes. Rukia sat up, her silver eyes widening as she stared down at her brother's smirking face.

"Don...don't do that!" She shouted, wiping her face. "I thought you were going to die!"

Ichi Guo smiled softly as he looked up at the dark sky, the rain was just starting to break and a few stars were starting to shine through the clouds. "Don't worry, I can't die. I've got too much to live for."


	5. Chapter 5

Three days passed after that rainy night. Most of the villagers still couldn't believe that it had really happened. The destruction and slaughter came from right next door, from a forest that had seemed so empty. The forest was a young one, how could it have held such a monster?

It took a while for the elder of the village to piece together what had happened. A group of students from Cang Hui Academy had reached rank twenty, meaning that they had to retrieve their second spirit halo. The younger forest was perfect for that, since a rank twenty spirit master should only absorb a spirit halo of up to seven hundred and eighty years, anything more than that would be considered dangerous, as the attempt would have a backlash on the spirit master's soul, just like the one that nearly killed Ichi Guo.

The fact that the spirit master students went out at all in the rain was stupid, and they probably only did it because their instructor was said to be drunk at the time. Everyone knew that you should never hunt monsters in the rain. Not only was it bad for visibility, but some of the stronger monsters became more active during the rainy times. The teacher was cocky, believing that being a rank thirty seven meant that he could handle any of the hundred year old monsters that lurked inside of the forest.

Of the fifteen who entered the forest that night, only one made it out alive, leading the beast they had uncovered straight back to the village. In a way, Juo Shin kind of wished they had all perished, no matter how cruel a fate that was for a child who was only just turning fourteen. If they had all died, then no one would have reported back to Cang Hui Academy about what happened, and the village elder wouldn't have found himself in the pickle he was in now.

"Such a terrible shame, what happened to your village. But you should have been prepared for this kind of outcome. After all, this is the entire reason your village even exists, to give support to the talented noble spirit master children." Juo Shin had to surprise a shiver at the sound of Shi Nian's voice. The man was a rank sixty seven, making him a Spirit Emperor, the fourth highest group of spirit masters. The man's eyes were rimmed in a sort of red makeup that formed into circles around his temples. His dark blue hair was pushed back and he had a sort of neck-beard going on. The man was fucking ugly, but not as ugly as his heart. He was famous throughout the local area. Or maybe infamous would be the more accurate term. "To think that we lost a whole fourteen spirit masters. Compared to the weight of their lives, you country filth are worthless."

"I'm sorry, but there was nothing we could do to stop them from venturing out in the rain. As you know, we weak villagers could never hope to question a spirit master." Juo Shin said, bowing his head. He didn't want to look into the man's eyes. The evil inside of them was visible. Everything about his body language suggested that he thought the entire village was dirt and should be swept away.

"Oh, but if your village is so powerless, then tell me, what was it that killed the monster?" Shi Nian asked, his amused voice held an underlining threat that made Juo Shin swallow. "From the looks of the body, that ghost wolf was between 1800 and 2400 years old. It was probably the oldest thing in this entire forest. So how did such a monster simply drop dead?"

"There... there was a man passing through the village. I don't know who, he didn't give a name and he left before the sun rose." Juo Shin said, a little too quickly. He couldn't let them know about Ichi Guo. They would turn the poor child into a weapon of war if he did.

"Oh, so a nameless Spirit Master powerful enough to single handedly bring down a monster of this magnitude just happened to be passing through a back water place like this?" Shi Nian said, as if it was the stupidest thing he had ever heard. But then the man smirked. "Of course, that story still seems much more plausible than the one I've been hearing of late. One involving a small child with orange hair wielding a massive sword." The village elder could almost feel the blood draining from his face. "To tell the truth, I laughed when I first hear that story. I thought that my student had brain damage. But after coming here and... persuading a few of the villagers to talk, I kept getting the same story. A seven year old bastard child calling himself Ichi Guo killed the beast. Not only that, but he successfully absorbed its spirit halo." Shi Nian slowly leaned forward over the elder. "They also said that this bastard was under your care. So tell me, where can I find this little bastard?"

"There... is... no child like that." Juo Shin said, trying to move away from the man, but before he could get far, a weight pressed down on him as the Spirit Emperor released his spiritual pressure. The normal old man felt crushed under it and couldn't move an inch. "Please... Noble Spirit Master... I'm not lying. There is no child." Juo Shin whimpered.

"That isn't what I want to hear. But don't worry. I have ways of making you talk. Ways that I do so enjoy using." The madman said as he lifted up his right hand, a spirit marker on his chest starting to glow. " **Cruel Dream: Tier 4 Skill: Visions of Horror!** "

Juo Shin's eyes started to dilate as the essence spirit, Cruel Dream, started to take effect. The elderly man dropped to the ground, his mouth opening up into a horrible scream as all of his fears flowed through his mind. The Spirit Emperor sat still, watching the man's suffering with a smile on his face.

It was the essence spirit that had made the man known far and wide as someone who should be avoided. While it had no physical attack or defense powers of its own, it could craft illusions so real that almost no one could break out of them. Most who were caught under the influence of his higher tier spirit skills ended up killing themselves.

After a minute of watching the old man twitching on the ground, he released the skill. "So, are you going to talk now?" He said, his voice unchanged. A mixture of pleasure and annoyance at the dirty work he was doing.

"Th... there is no..." Juo Shin whimpered as he started to sob.

"I see. Maybe a little more will jog your memory. **Cruel Dream: Tier 4 Skill: Visions of Horror!** "

* * *

 **Need to go back to doing class projects, so it might be left at this for a little while.**

 **PS. This is the kind of evil you have to expect from Spirit Hall in this series. They are Hitler kind of evil or maybe even Stalin. Going around killing and torturing as they wish, you are either with them or against them, and they kidnap children to be trained for their own personal army.**

 **Shi Nian is actually from the canon, and this is pretty much how he acted.**


	6. Chapter 6

Ichi Guo stood in the center of a small clearing surrounded by flowers that tended to ward away monsters who disliked their unstable aura. Ichi Guo himself felt a little uncomfortable there. The conflicting feeling was making it impossible to accurately use his sixth sense. But it was the safest place the village had to offer, and he knew he was supposed to be lying low.

The elder of the village sent him there the second people from Cang Hui Academy started to show up. They were looking for him, or whoever it was that killed the spirit beast, and would turn the village upside down in order to find him. So the only safe thing to do was to wait for it outside of the village, in a remote spot in the forest that only Ichi Guo, Rukia, and Juo Shin knew about.

Ichi Guo and Rukia had found this spot themselves and quickly realised its effects on the monsters. It was their play spot. The place they could go to in order to relax without having to worry about the outside world.

Ichi Guo closed his eyes and focused on his inner world. 'Old man, you there?' He thought into the vast sky-scrapper city. 'Old man!'

'He ain't here!' The Hollow shouted after a few seconds. 'I've been looking ever since he showed up earlier, but I can't find a trace of that guy. He left me here alone with your sorry ass again!'

Ichi Guo frowned. 'Why? Why did he just show up when I was absorbing the spirit halo? And why did he disappear?'

'Speaking of spirit halos, when you going to be getting me another one of those!?' The Hollow said. Ichi Guo could almost feel the monstrous grin on his white face. His black lips pulled back to show black teeth.

'We can't absorb another one until I hit rank twenty.' Ichi Guo replied roughly.

'Bull crap! You got two essences! One spirit halo a piece, now feed me before I starve away!' The Hollow shouted back. 'Come on, just hunt down one more high level monster. With this last power up, you'd be able to kill it with ease. Then we can devour its soul and become stronger.'

'I don't devour souls!' Ichi Guo shouted back, a shudder passing though his spine. That was exactly what he had done. Once he had gotten free of the Ghost Wolf's hypnosis, it had been so easy.

A spirit master wasn't supposed to be able to absorb a spirit ring that old until after they turned rank 40. It would have been rather weak to a rank 40 for it to be worth absorbing, but too strong for a rank 30 to safely absorb. And Ichi Guo had managed it with relative ease at rank 10.

He supposed it was because of his beast type spirit essence; the hollow.

Someone with a cat beast type spirit essence might find things that a cat does come naturally to them. They always land on their feet, have good night vision, gain a taste for fish. So what would happen if someone had the essence of a hollow - a monster that devours souls in order to absorb their strength? Would they find it easy to absorb even stronger spirit halos?

'Don't be so childish! This isn't like the last world you were born into!' The hollow shouts echoed though the boy's inner world. 'This is a dog eat dog world! The strong rule over the weak and a spirit master could kill off your entire village and not a single soul would give a damn! If you want to survive, then start eating! Because none of the people who are coming after your ass are going to think twice about killing and eating an essence beast's soul if it means getting the edge on you!'

Ichi Guo was quiet as these words sank in. People would come after him. He knew that. Whether it was because they covet his power or in order to eliminate him as a possible threat, he would be hunted down. The fact that there were spirit masters in the village at that moment searching for him was proof enough of that. As long as he was in territory controlled by Spirit Hall, he would never be free. And in one year's time, it would be her turn to get checked for spirit power. If he wanted to keep his little sister safe, he would need more power, and he would need to move her to somewhere the Spirit Hall couldn't reach her.

'There isn't even a spirit halo in this forest that is worth getting. We'll have to search for one further south, once we get to the Heaven Dou Empire.' He mumbled into the inner world, shocking the hollow into silence. 'I'll grab Rukia, and we'll run there together. Spirit Master's aren't owned by their country there, so I will be able to apply for a spirit master's allowance. One gold a month should be enough to get by on until I hit rank twenty and can get more money.'

'Are... please tell me you're serious.' The hollow said, his excitement easy to feel for Ichi Guo. But before the young boy could answer, the hollow changed the subject. 'Someone's coming!'

Ichi Guo's eyes shot open as he heard a twig snap nearby. From the sound it seemed like multiple people. He immediately Shunpoed up into the tree line, out of sight of any who might come in.

Focusing on his ears, he used spirit control to amplify his hearing. The sounds were still blurred by the thick trees and the wind in the air, but he could make out the voices of two men complaining, and the sounds of a weak whimper. It wasn't Uncle Shin, or at least, he wasn't alone, or just with Rukia. The old man would have never willingly led someone to this place. Where they just guards scouting the forest? Seemed unlikely that they would stumble across his hiding spot.

Ichi Guo's heart jumped up into his throat as four men in brown rain desert cloaks broke though the wall of bushes, the two up front hacking at the plants using claws from some kind of spirit transformation while the two behind them dragged the crumbled form of Juo Shin.

"So, where the hell is the kid!?" One of the leading men demanded as he looked around the clearing. He had been twisted by his beast spirit's activation into something halfway between a man and a wolverine. Large teeth flashed underneath his gums and his hair was striped black and brown. Each of his fingers ended in five-centimeter-long black nails which he had been using to rip apart the thick bushes and vines that covered the clearings walls. His legs were aligned differently than human legs, formed in a more beastly manner.

"You better not have been leading us on old man!" The second of the beast men shouted, this one possessed a kind of bear's spirit, though it didn't show as much. His hands were covered in thick brown fur and his teeth were sharpened, but other than that he seemed human. If you didn't count the two bear ears sticking up out of his hair.

"Xiao Guo... I'm sorry... I'm sorry... Xiao Guo..." Juo Shin mumbled nonstop as the old man cried. It was as if he didn't even notice the four men. He just kept staring at the ground.

"Hey! Answer when we talk to you!?" The bear man shouted.

"Give it up, old timer probably can't even remember his name at this point." One of the people holding Juo Shin up said before they dumped him to the ground. The two guys had nearly identical military style hair-cuts, but they weren't related. Ichi Guo gritted his teeth as the man who had looked out for him all these years fell to the ground, not bothering to stop himself from landing on his face. He just kept whimper the same phase; 'Xiao Guo, I'm sorry'.

Ichi Guo wanted to rush down, but his sixth sense could now read these four. The two that had been carrying Juo Shin had three spirit halos a piece, meaning they were ranked in the 30s, while the beast people were both up in the 40s with four spirit halos. Even with the difference in power, he was sure he could take one or two of them down before they noticed him, but he wasn't so sure he could handle all of them.

"So it would seem we have reached the spot." A fifth voice said as another man stepped out of the bushes. This one was dressed in a white suit and had his hands clasped behind his back. This guy had strange dark blue hair and a neck beard, and by the way he walked, it was clear he was in charge.

Ichi Guo cursed at the sight of him. Six. The man had six spirit halos. Not only that, while the other were all off guard at the moment, this man seemed to be surrounding himself with spiritual energy in order to fend off any possible sneak attack.

"There isn't anyone here, sir. I think the old man has been leading us on." The wolverine man said, standing at attention and shaking slightly, as if afraid of addressing this stronger spirit master.

"Hm... no. I believe the boy is here." The neck bearded man said as he took a few steps forward and looked around the clearing. Ichi Guo pushed himself out of sight, losing his own vision in doing so. "But anyone would have heard you coming! The way you all complain!" The four flinched at the sight of anger. "No matter, we will just need to lure him out. Kill the old man." Ichi Guo's eyes widened and he tensed up in his hiding place, shifting around the branches in his tree so that he could see.

"Hah! Gladly!" One of the two who had been holding onto Juo Shin lifted up a hand. Spiritual particles started to condense until he was holding a stone hammer. His arm was held up, ready to bring it down and cave in the village elder's head.

"No!" Ichi Guo Shunpoed out of the tree and did a sort of reverse bicycle kick in mid-air in order to drive a heel into the man's nose, adding the speed of his spin to the force of the kick. The bone shattered and was pressed backward into the man's skull even as teeth were sent flying.

The fragments in his skull would kill the man, or at the very least leave him with permanent brain damage.

Ichi Guo then turned on the second individual who had been holding Juo Shin. The man was shocked, but was quickly trying to raise up a spiritual barrier around his body.

Ichi Guo moved in before the barrier could be finished. His open hand was sharpened with his own spiritual energy in order to smash through the beginnings of the shield and was driven hard into the man's stomach. His fingers pulled back and a second hit occurred using his extended knuckles, before those too pulled in to make a fist for a third hit. At each stage a burst of spiritual energy was being sent into the man's body. The man spat out a mouth-full of blood as his legs crumpled and he fell to the ground.

The damage to the internal organs would be severe. If the man managed to receive medical attention from a skilled healer within the next three days, he might make it. Otherwise, death would be slow.

"You brat!" The bear man shouted as the two beast spirit uses moved in. Ichi Guo grabbed Juo Shin and quickly Shunpoed to the other side of the clearing, out of reach of the beast people who looked around in shock for a second before turning to see Ichi Guo. They looked down at their companions who were slowly chocking out blood. "You little bastard! I'm going to..."

"Out of my way." The blue neck-bearded man said, pushing past the other two who immediately shut up. "So you are the rumored boy. Well, let's see what you can do." He said with a grin. Ichi Guo's legs faltered as a spiritual pressure suddenly surged out of the blue haired man and hit him like a hammer. The weight was intense. Enough to get Ichi Guo to fall down to one knee. "Hmm... at least you know to kneel before your betters." The man said with a twisted smile.

Ichi Guo gritted his teeth and pushed himself back to his feet. "No... I won't!" He shouted, before releasing his Zangetsu and using it to push away the spiritual pressure from him, the same way he had guarded himself in his fight against Zaraki Kenpachi. As he let his spiritual energy flare, the spirit halo he absorbed became visible, the dark purple ring floated around the body of Zangetsu; the sword having changed once again into a pitch black butcher's knife the size of your average full grown man, its white wrapping fluttering off to his side.

The two beastmen seemed shocked to see the purple ring, but the blue haired man was grinning wildly. "You really are talented, withstanding the pressure of my spirit like this. But even if you can, the old man can't."

Ichi Guo glanced back to see Juo Shin flat against the ground. His skin was paler than the boy had ever seen it. It looked as though he was dying.

He didn't have time to be careful. He had to stop the spiritual pressure before it was too late. He rushed forward as fast as he could and preformed a two handed slash, aimed for the blue man's head, only to stare in shock as his blade passed right through and the image evaporated like smoke. "Where did he..?" Ichi Guo started but then stopped as he noticed the forest around him didn't feel right. The shadows were too still and he couldn't smell the flowers.

He was trapped in an illusion. A nearly complete illusion. He blocked off all his reactions to his five senses, focusing entirely on his sixth sense. Though his eyes were telling him that the two beastmen were backing away, his sixth sense told him that one of them was getting into attack range.

He dipped his head back as he felt the spiritual energy in the man's arm swinging out to grab him and swung Zangetsu in a wide arc towards the energy mass.

The blade slowed in mid-flight as it hit the spiritual energy the man was using to protect himself, but the Zangetsu's blade was sharpened to the point where it could cut through stone. The blade passed through and blood appeared at the tip. Not a solid hit, but still a hit.

Ichi Guo danced back, putting distance between himself and his attackers, waiting for their next move while holding his sword at the ready.

But the next move wasn't an ordinary attack. The blue haired man threw a wave of spiritual pressure in the form of a bullet straight into Ichi Guo. The force was similar to the first level Kido spell and knocked the boy off of his feet and slammed him into a tree hard enough to knock the air out of his lungs.

"You are an obnoxious brat, but this is as far as that goes. **Cruel Dream: Tier 6 Skill: Walking Dream!** " Ichi Guo's consciousness faded completely as a powerful spiritual energy forced his mind into a hibernating state.

* * *

"Damn that brat... I'll rip his head off!" The bear-man shouted as he grabbed his bleeding side.

"No you won't. We are taking him with us." Shi Nian said as he looked down at the boy. His eyes were wide open, but there was no sign of life in them. "Stand up." He commanded, and the boy did. "Good, my hypnosis seems to be holding."

"Why take him alive!? We should kill him after what he did! He killed..!" The wolverine man started before shutting up at a glare from Shi Nian.

"His head is worth a thousand of yours. Considering how unique he is, and at such a young age, I can't imagine what Spirit Hall will give us for him. He is worth more than this entire country." Shi Nian said as he looked closer at the sword as the two minions looked on his surprise. Was the boy really that valuable? "Just look at his essence spirit; A long sword with no guard and can cut through spirit force. To think that a back water place like this was hiding a descendant of the Seven Kill Sword Clan, even if he is a bastard."

The beast spirit users' jaws dropped. "The Seven Kill Sword... are you sure?" The bear-man said dumbly. The Seven Kill Sword was one of the rarest tool type spirit essences, belonging to a sub-servant clan within the Seven Treasure Glass Tower Clan. The clan only had a few living members and its head was the Sword Douluo, Chen Xin, perhaps one of the most powerful individuals in the world. The Seven Kill Sword was widely considered to be the second most powerful tool type spirit essence, right after the Clear Sky Hammer.

"A boy as talented as this, with that kind of spirit essence and whose first spirit halo came from a two thousand year old spirit beast. If we give him to Spirit Hall, they will reward us generously. Rank, power, wealth, even spirit bones; they will all be ours." Shi Nian said, greed clear on his face, before turning to the path they had made on their way to the clearing. "We are going, follow." He ordered Ichi Guo who simply obeyed in his sleep walking state.

"What about the others?" The wolverine-man asked, looking to his two dying comrades and the still whimpering old man.

"The smell of blood is in the air. Let the beasts eat their fill tonight." Shi Nian scoffed before marching on. His two remaining lackeys shuddered before making to follow. Their boss was a psycho, and they didn't want to be on his bad side.

Dear Angry Review; I'm going to try to make this as clear as possible. Ichigo doesn't have a problem with killing monsters whenever he needs to. It is the idea of absorbing their spirits that makes him uneasy, because absorbing another's soul in order to become more powerful is a very hollow like thing to do, and he doesn't want to become a hollow. He's fine with killing shit, he just doesn't like to eat souls.

* * *

 **For those of you who don't know much about Douluo DaLu, Chen Xin is what you would get if you combined Lord Sesshomaru and Kuchiki Byakuya. The ultimate 'calm and collected' badass who acts as a grandfather type figure to one of the female main characters in the show. Though Chen Xin usually doesn't care as much for the trappings of Nobility as long as his charge, Ning Rongrong is happy.**


	7. Chapter 7

The village had watched as the outsiders had dragged away their elder into the forest, six people in total if you counted the broken man. But when the party finally reemerged, two of the outsiders were missing, and Juo Shin was nowhere to be seen. One of the remaining outsiders was clutching at a poorly wrapped stomach wound. And finally, walking like a zombie in the middle of them, there was Ichi Guo.

No one even dared to whisper. They just wanted the Spirit Masters to be gone. They had seen what had happened to Juo Shin because of his bravery. The kind hearted elder of the village had been tortured till insanity and now was nowhere to be seen. They guessed that the men had simply killed him out in the forest and left his body for the spirit beasts.

In this unforgiving world, the spirit masters wielded power that originated from the old gods. How could any of the normal people hope to stand against them?

The three older men and the hypnotized child walked towards where a group of around ten students were standing, awaiting the return of their instructors, though some of the younger ones visibly shuddered at the sight of their men walking towards them.

"Gather everyone, we are leaving." Shi Nian said to one of the older students. The boy was around sixteen years old, but already had eyes of a man who had died a little inside; The expression of someone who was resigned to their fate.

"Yes Principal, but... where are the others who were with you?" The young man dared to ask.

Shi Nian's glared at the boy who immediately looked down in submission. "Instructors Jin and Xun Zing have both let down their guard and perished for their errors. Any more questions?" Shi Nian said with that air that teachers sometimes got as they answered an especially stupid question. Students' eyes widened and lips parroted the man's words; perished.

"That boy is a fucking animal!" The injured teacher spat, still holding his bloodied side. His beastly features had disappeared as his essence spirit returned to a dormant state, but his face was contorted from pain into an expression that was animal like in its own way. "Supports, get your asses over here!" A few of the students scrambled to fulfill the man's demand. A few 'support class' Spirit Masters got to work healing the open wound until there was only a scar.

The cold hearted instructor glanced down at Ichi Guo. "Get onto that wagon." Shi Nian said sharply.

The hypnotized boy started to walk forward, a few students stepping aside to let him pass by. But before he could get there someone from the audience shouted. "No! Ichi-nii, don't go!" Rukia's words were in Japanese, and went right over the heads of the others, but Ichi Guo stopped himself mid-step at the sound of his little sister's voice.

The small black haired girl darted across the grounds, past all of the students and ran up to the boy, throwing her arms around his waist. The people from Cang Hui Academy were in complete shock for a good three breaths at the sheer speed that the girl had covered the distance with.

"You promised me that they couldn't take you away! You promised!" She shouted, trying to shake her brother out of his trance.

"Girl, what do you think you're doing?" Shi Nian said, grabbing the girl's arm and pulling her off of Ichi Guo, she yelped at this tight grip as he yanked hard on her arm. The old Spirit Emperor glared past her at the boy and increased his spiritual energy to his hypnosis skill. "Keep moving." He growled.

Ichi Guo stood still for only a second longer before continuing on, unable to hear his sister crying out to him. "Let me go! Ichi-san! Come back!" Rukia cried as she struggled to get free.

"Annoying insect." Shi Nian said, giving the girl's arm a sharp tug so that she would face him. He held a hand in front of her face and a golden spirit halo appeared around his wrist. "Cruel Dream: **Tier 2 Skill: Labyrinth of Dreams.** " He grinned, believing the girl was lost under his power, she stopped struggling and looked up at him. But rather than stumbling around, lost in a vision, she grabbed his hand and bit down on it.

"You big bully! You can't have him!" She shouted between her teeth as she bit down on the man's hand as hard as she could.

Shi Nian stared down at her, not in pain, as his spiritual pressure protected his body, but in shock that she was still struggling. Was she fighting against something in her vision... or could she still see him? Frowning, the monster of a man lifted his hand and called out a dark purple spirit halo. " **Cruel Dream: Tier 4 Skill: Visions of Horror.** "

It was a much more powerful skill, and one that could not be mistaken for anything else. Every time he had ever used it, the victim would fall down and scream for mercy. It was a skill that made him feared, even by the Spirit Saints who ranked above him.

Which is why his blood ran cold when the girl's behavior didn't change in the slightest. Her bright silver eyes were still focused in a hateful glare on the old man, her teeth bared as they bit down on his hand harder and harder. Then, Shi Nian shivered as he saw a drop of his own blood sliding out from the corner of the girl's mouth. She had somehow pierced his spirit guard.

"Brat!" Shi Nian shouted as he let go of the girl and struck her hard across the face. Rukia toppled to the ground from the force of the hit, giving a small cry as her elbow grazed against the ground, leaving a small scrape. But her silver eyes remained unchanged. Shi Nian couldn't stand the look of those eyes. He half wondered if his own skill had backfired, if he was the one in a nightmare.

The girl could not be affected by his illusions. What was an illusionist type spirit master without their illusions? Through his illusions, Shi Nian had become the fear of all Spirit Masters who didn't out rank him by at least ten ranks. Without them... he was nothing.

In a fit of rage, he sent a blast of spiritual pressure at the girl, hitting her hard in the face with it, leaving a mark that would soon bruise. Rukia cried from the pain, but the sound didn't bring joy to Shi Nian, not like it usually did.

"Principal, what are you doing!?" The student from before shouted, trying to break through the man's anger before things went too far, only for the man's anger to be redirected at him.

"Quiet!" Shi Nian shouted, sending a blast of spiritual pressure at the boy, knocking him through the air as if he had been hit by a bull.

The instructor with the wolverine spirit moved up next to the Headmaster. "Boss, might want to reel it in a bit. People are watching. Can't just kill the lass." He murmured into the man's ear, looking around at the countless horrified villagers. "The higher ups might look the other way about torture, but open murder in front of so many will get us thrown in the slammer."

Shi Nian threw a horrible glare at the man, who reared back a few steps. But the glare was not as chilling as the cruel grin that followed it. "You may have a point there." He said, turning his back on the girl and starting to walk away. But before the wolverine man could let out a sigh of relief, Shi Nian lazily raised one hand and a black ring of light formed around it. " **Cruel Dream: Tier 6 Skill: Walking Dream.** " The teacher took a step back, as if hit hard in the stomach and his eyes started to lose focus. "You'll kill her for me."

His beast's spirit began to take over again, the twisted face and vicious claws growing out from his human features. Women's screams and the cries of small children echoed around the small village, but no one stepped forward, not even as the clawed hand was raised up over the girl's head, positioned to strike.

Rukia closed her eyes. "Ichi-nii..." She whimpered and sent out a small pulse of her own spiritual energy. A final call to her brother.

The small pulse of energy cut through Ichi Guo's hypnosis. Rebooting a memory of when he taught his sister how to create those pulses. He had told her that, no matter what happened, if she sent one, then he would be able to find her. He had promised that no matter what, he would drop everything to rush to her side.

No one saw it. One moment he was about to climb into the back of the wagon, the next he was kneeling between his little sister and the hypnotized Spirit Ancestor, his sword summoned up and acting as a shield. The sound of something hard striking against unyielding steel rang through the air.

Ichi Guo flicked his blade and swiftly brought up the edge, cutting across the center of the wolverine-man's chest, releasing a massive spray of blood. The cut hadn't been deep enough to be fatal, but the pain from it had released the man from his hypnosis, and he screamed as he fell backwards.

Zangetsu disappeared from Ichi Guo's hands as he jumped up, doing a double heel kick in the man's face into a black flip to land behind his sister. Then, grabbing Rukia, he performed a quick Shunpo to increase the distance between them and all possible threats. His mind was still whirling from throwing off the hypnosis as he quickly tried to assess his situation.

The wolverine man had been pushed down onto his back and was clawing at the wound on his chest. There was a lot of blood, enough that Ichi Guo was pretty confident that the man would be crippled as a fighter for the rest of his life, even if he would probably survive. In all honesty, it was only his spirit guard that saved his life.

He barely registered the students. In his experience, the masses fled the moment they saw titans clash. If he could put up a good show against the remaining Spirit Ancestor and the Spirit Emperor, then the others would run for the hills by themselves. Given that, his first priority had to be the head man. He had to stop him from placing another hypnosis on him before the real fight began.

Kicking forward into a full dash, Ichi Guo launched himself towards Shi Nian, only for the recently healed bear spirit man to interfere. "You brat! I'm tired of this! **Real Guard Activate!** " Not only did the beastly features make themselves known on the man's face and body, but his spiritual energy condensed on his arms and his chest, forming into reddish brown plated armor. " **Savage Bear: Tier Three Skill: Diamond Claws!** "

Spiritual energy within the man's body was being pressed into his hands as a dark purple spirit ring appeared around his waist. His fingers started to glow as the spiritual density around his claws grew, and from the way he was standing, it looked as if he was planning on grabbing Ichi Guo's sword mid slash.

Ichi Guo didn't have time to deal with this guy, he needed to make it to the neck bearded bastard before things got hairy. He called up his own spirit halo, the purple ring glowing dark around his butcher's blade as he moved the positioning of his hands without breaking stride. " **Zangetsu: Tier One Skill...** " The light from the halo bounced off of the blade, seeming to bend the light around him, blurring his form. " **Moon Shadow Rush!** "

The blur split into six separate images momentarily and scattered, moving around the bear-man before meeting again on the other side and merging back into one image, not missing step. Six separate cuts appeared on the bear-man's body, each at a different weak point in the man's physical guard; one on each arm at the elbow joints, one on either side of his waist, and two on his calves. The cutting power of his Zanpakuto was weakened by the skill dividing his spiritual pressure which he used to sharpen his blade; so by the time it got through the man's spirit guard, none of the attacks were a killing blow, but some damage still got through and the combined force crippled the man and sent him to his knees knocking him off balance at the same time.

Ichi Guo continued towards Shi Nian, focusing all his will on making his blade sharper. He could feel the man's spirit guard, stronger than the others. He had to get through it. He would get through it!

Jumping up, he brought down Zangetsu with all his strength against the invisible shield which surrounded the man. The two energies shuddered as they met and the barrier became a visible force as if fighting to stave off Ichi Guo's attack. Shi Nian's calm nature was long since gone as he saw the blade slowly getting through his barrier, and into the bubble he had thrown up around himself.

Shi Nian threw up a hand and focused his spiritual energy as a bullet yet again, preparing to blast the child away.

Ichi Guo, sensing the build-up of energy, pulled back on his attack and moved his over-sized sword in between himself and the Spirit Emperor just in time to intercept the attack. The force of it sent him spinning through the air and caused vibrations to run through Zangetsu's blade up into the boy's arm. But he still managed to use his spiritual energy to steady himself in midair and land on his feet, bringing up his blade into a position to strike at a moment's notice.

"I wished to go easy on you, in order to not damage the goods, but I see that you are one who needs to be taught a lesson." Shi Nian said through gritted teeth. His eyes moved from Ichi Guo to the two instructors who were gasping on the ground from their injuries. "Worthless. Completely worthless. Cannot even handle a small child." He said before raising a hand. "It doesn't matter. You will fight for me. Even if it kills you." A black ring appeared around his arm. " **Cruel Dream: Tier 5 Skill: Wrathful Fantasy!** "

Twin shots of blue light erupted from his outstretched hand and hit the two injured men in the back. The two stopped crying out in pain and holding their wounds. Ichi Guo watched as the two got up onto their feet, teeth bared as they growled like wild animals, their eyes glowing red as they turned towards him as their spiritual energy seemed to grow even stronger. On their foreheads were glowing blue marks.

Blood dripped out of their wounds, wounds that would certainly kill them if they kept pushing themselves, but the two didn't seem to care. They were blind to their own pain. They only sought blood.

Behind the two berserking beastmen was Shi Nian, still grinning. "They say a teacher's job is never done. But I am hoping to make this quick. Nothing like pain and fear to get the students to stand in a straight line."

* * *

 **Classes just ended for me yesterday, and start up again next week. But we will see how much I can write before then. Probably not much. All the projects these last few weeks have drained me quite a bit.**


	8. Chapter 8

Without a single care for their injuries, the two enraged Spirit Masters rushed towards Ichi Guo, teeth and claws bared. The reincarnated reaper hardly had enough time to register just how much faster this possession technique had made them before they were on him, swinging out their clawed hands with all the grace and accuracy of a drunk baboon.

Even so, the blows were raining down on him and the struggle to maintain a guard had placed him on a permanent defensive rut. Each time he guarded one strike, the force from the blow would force him backwards and require him to reestablish his footing. The fact that Zangetsu was a massive slab of metal, twice the size of his own body was not making things any easier on him, as it limited how he could use the blade.

His arms were going numb from trying to take the edge off of the attacks, and with every passing second it was becoming more and more dangerous to try to fend off two enemies at once with a guard.

'What the fuck are you doing, King!? Stop dancing around these two nut jobs and take them out!' Hollow Zangetsu shouted in frustration. 'You'll never win if you can't break out of this defense!'

'Shut up! I already know that!' Ichi Guo shouted back at the spirit, but even so, it was hard to weigh his options when two massive guys were flailing at him as they bled to death on their feet. The two mindless beasts seemed to not give a damn about anything but attacking.

Ichi Guo was starting to see the primal pattern to their attacks, but as long as he had to shield himself, he couldn't break out of the cycle of blocking their attacks. If he was going to get out of this, he would need to take a risk.

Shi Nian watched the fight from a short distance away. It was taking longer than he had expected. Fast and powerful as his subordinates had become, they were not able to finish the job. The child was constantly moving himself. Changing position to try to make the two stumble over each other to get at him, minimizing their advantage from outnumbering him. His guards, rather than simply blocking the attacks, allowed him to roll a little with the punches. Where in the world did the little boy learn to fight like this?

Not that it really mattered to the Principal. It seemed like a forgone conclusion that the boy would eventually become too tired and beaten to continue and then he would simply throw him in the back of the wagon and cart him off like that. But Shi Nian was shocked out of his partial disinterest when the wolverine-man threw a wide right swing at the boy, trying to grab at the sword only for the blade to dissolve into a black mist. The boy had recalled his essence spirit, a move that most would relate to suicide.

Shi Nian swore as he prepared to pull back the reins on his subordinates. After all, killing the boy would be a grave loss to him. But before he could, he saw something starting to form around the top left half of the boy's face. It looked like a quarter of a bone skull mask. Shi Nian's eyes widened as he saw the boy's eye change from white to black and the soft gold to a sharp pale yellow.

The two beastmen continued their attack on him, but he dodged them with increasing ease as his own speed seemed to have increased since the transformation. Shi Nian's mind was spinning at what he was witnessing.

Twin spirits. The term's meaning was obvious. It was when someone was born with two spirits rather than a single spirit. Only one in every hundred or so had it. So it wasn't exactly extremely rare. In most cases, it wasn't useful. One spirit would be more powerful than the other, and thus that would be the spirit that would be used, since only one could be used at a time.

The thing that was getting to the Spirit Emperor was just which spirits they were; the Seven Kill Sword and the Seven Hells Bone Demon. They were the two spirits belonging to the sub-servant clans of the Seven Treasure Glass Tower Clan. It was their existence that allowed a support type clan like the Seven Treasure Glass Tower Clan to be the second most powerful clan in the world, standing above even the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan, whose beast spirit was supposed to be the most powerful in the world.

To have not just the tool spirit, the Seven Kill Sword, but also the beast spirit, the Seven Hells Bone Demon. Just who was this little bastard?

It was an interesting combination. Beast based spirits were widely considered to surpass tool based spirits, as a tool spirit user could use their power to enhance their tool. But regardless of how strong you make the weapon, it doesn't do you much good if the one wielding it is weak, and tool spirit users were almost universally weaker than beast spirit users. They were slower, had less physical endurance, and they lacked the raw instinct for battle that a beast type master had.

So for a tool spirit to surpass a beast spirit, it had to be truly powerful and the master extremely determined to overcome the gap between them. After which, the practice with controlling ones power to a greater degree could allow them to become even stronger. After all, humans surpassed beasts not through instinct, but intelligence. The ability to control ones self was the true strength of a tool type spirit master.

But what if someone had both a beast spirit and a tool spirit? One allowing them a greater control of the spiritual power inside of their body, the other giving them a focus outside. The best of both worlds, in theory, since they could not both be used at the same time.

As one would expect when someone activated a top tier beast spirit, Ichi Guo's speed drastically increased. Where before he had been struggling to fend off his attackers with half guards and some fancy foot work, now he was able to keep himself well out of arms reach of the two attackers as they tried again and again to rush him down. Every time their flails met nothing but air as he dodged in a fashion that Shi Nian wouldn't call graceful but certainly effective, as his movements were sharp and hard to predict.

Then came the even less expected, the irrational even. The boy started to go on the offensive. At first it was merely sneaking in a cheeky punch or kick wherever he found an opening, each aimed for an existing wound and each having only a marginal effect on the attacking beastmen, but then it started to get bigger.

Ichi Guo was testing the waters. He had long since gotten the attack patterns of the two fighters down, and now he was asking himself the big question; how do I win. Most people would call someone in his position insane for even thinking about winning while in his shoes. They would say that survival is far-fetched as it was. However his experience from his previous life was telling him that only winning truly mattered. Just surviving would not bring an end to this, and failure was not an option.

Five seconds. That was his limit on overlapping his spirits.

The hypnotism had drastically increased the spiritual pressure surrounding the two beast spirit users. As it was, he would have to use his full strength to break through it. Not to mention the Spirit Emperor. He would need to take all three of them down in just five seconds.

Actually, he would only have four seconds. He would need to save some power in reserve for the group of lesser spirit masters. If he spent four seconds with both spirits up, then he should have just enough energy left over to make a stand with Zangetsu for about two more minutes.

'Can I do it?' Ichi Guo asked himself as he continued to hold his own against his attackers. He was slightly surprised when he got an answer.

'The fuck kind of question is that!?' His inner hollow shouted. 'I know it's been a while but have you honestly forgotten everything! What the hell is with all this doubt!? Cast aside your fears! Turn back, and you will age! Hesitate, and you will die!' Ichi Guo was surprised to find his hollow quoting the old man Zangetsu. 'Call me out and we will rip apart anyone who dares try to stop us!'

Ichi Guo's lips turned up in a grin. 'Fine then, just remember we're running on a timer. Don't screw this up.'

As the two teachers attacked Ichi Guo again, he shifted his weight to the left, making it look as though he would dodge that way before doing a quick Shunpo to the right, catching the beast men off guard.

He had maneuvered himself to place the bear-man between him and his partner. Then he threw a hard punch straight into the man's face.

The punch hit the spiritual barrier and was stopped dead in its tracks. The bear-man grinned as he found Ichi Guo floating helplessly in the air next to him after the ineffective punch.

With an animalistic grunt, the bear-man swung a clawed hand at Ichi Guo.

Everyone who had been watching let out a gasp of horror as they saw blood fly through the air and bits of clothing being scattered as the claw ripped through the boy's chest. But then, he was gone, and all that was there was a torn shirt.

Utsusemi, Cast-Off Cicada Shell, a more advanced form of the Soul Reapers' Shunpo technique which leaves an after image behind in order to confuse the attackers. Most take a good second to understand the fact that they never hit anything but a stray article of clothing, giving a good window for attack.

The two beast-men stared in shock, their hypnotized brains unable to process what they were seeing. Shi Nian himself couldn't understand it. But he saw what happened next, as the boy had reappeared behind the two holding his arm out. Black specks condensed together as Ichi Guo recalled Zangetsu, and his spiritual power sky-rocketed fifteen ranks once again.

"He's behind you!" Shi Nian shouted, but it was too late. The first strike was an overhead swing, perfectly aimed to slice straight through the wolverine man's neck, sending his head spinning through the air. The second strike followed immediately after, an upwards cut that went through the bear-man's back, cutting his heart as the boy moved past him.

Shi Nian could hardly believe it, in just one second, the boy had killed two Spirit Ancestors, both of which had been placed under his berserker spell. And now, the child was after him again.

The Shunpo was immediate, and Ichi Guo covered the distance between himself and Shi Nian before the other two's bodies could even hit the ground. The boy let out a small battle cry, which echoed from his hollow spirit distorting his voice. He lifted his sword up into a two handed swing, putting as much force and spirit pressure as he could into the offensive strike.

Even though the attack was enough to call up a steady wind, it landed against the Spirit Emperor's barrier with a heavy smacking sound. The bubble of protection again slowing the progression of Zangetsu's wicked sharp blade.

Shi Nian again prepared to use his spiritual pressure to push the boy back, just as he had done before. He had no way of knowing that was exactly what Ichi Guo had wanted. As the wave of spiritual pressure shot out of Shi Nian's out stretched hand, his spiritual barrier rippled, weakening from the need to let the blast through.

Not wasting the opening, Ichi Guo Shunpoed again, moving out of the way of the blast and cutting his way into Shi Nian's bubble. "Die!" Ichi Guo shouted, bringing down his sword towards the Spirit Emperor's head.

Shi Nian reacted with a surprising amount of speed for someone taken by surprise, shifting himself backwards and half stumbling out of the way of the strike. Unfortunately for him, he couldn't move out of the way completely.

Zangetsu slid straight through Shi Nian's extended right arm, moving through the muscle and bone as if it was simple wood on a chopping block. Blood strayed out of the stump as the arm was sent spinning through the air.

Ichi Guo himself slammed into the ground, rolling away as his momentum carried him farther forward. His mask cracked and shattered as he dropped the essence spirit to conserve energy. The four seconds were up. Now he had to find out if the damage he dealt was enough.

It took a second for Shi Nian to actually register what had happened. He was just staring at the blood dripping from where his right harm had been, everything below the shoulder was missing. Finally, he collapsed to his knees and began to scream bloody murder.

"You... you damned bastard!" He screamed, holding onto the stump, trying in vain to stop the bleeding. "Kill you..." He hissed between clenched teeth, pushing himself up onto his feet again. His spiritual energy was continuing to rise at a rate that was beyond surprising to Ichi Guo. "I'll kill all of you!"

A shimmering in the air occurred next to the man's head as a crystal half-tiara-like-item appeared on the side of his head. The item was pulling in more and more energy from the surrounding students who seemed to be falling to their knees, unable to deal with the spiritual pressure coming from their headmaster. The normal civilians were passing out as his power grew and grew. Ichi Guo himself was having a hard time fending off the rising power as the man began to laugh like someone who had lost his mind. The spiritual pressure was somewhere around lieutenant's level, as far as he could tell.

Five rings formed around his waist; two pale yellow, two purple and a black one. Then the five rings started to gravitate together, merging into one solid black ring.

Slowly, the mad laughter started to die down and the man turned towards Ichi Guo, a familiar smile on his face. A smile that sent a chill down his spine. "It seems that no matter how much time passes, you always find a way to upset my plans. Even here in another life and in another world." His voice had changed, dropping in pitch. It was so cold and arrogant. It was a voice that Ichi Guo would recognize anywhere.

The man's skin and hair seemed to flake away, revealing swept back wavy brown hair, his neck beard disappeared to reveal a strong chin and his eyes changed from blue to a heavy brown that looked towards Ichi Guo as if looking down at an insect.

"Isn't that right... Kurosaki?"

* * *

 **Don't complain about Aizen right here. Do it after you read the next chapter if you really must, but give me a chance before you leave me an angry review and just quit.**


	9. Chapter 9

Ichi Guo could hardly breathe. It was an illusion. It had to be. He couldn't be there. Aizen couldn't still exist. He knew that the man had been able to force him to see things. He had conjured up smells and sounds to mask reality. But no matter how much he tried to rationalize that the one standing in front of him was nothing more than a delusion, it didn't make him go away.

Ichi Guo closed his eyes tight and tried to find a hole; Some way of getting out of this nightmare. "You aren't real! You're just an illusion!" Ichi Guo's fingers tightened around his weapon, but that didn't stop a small tremble. For the first time in his new life, he was feeling genuine fear.

"An illusion, am I? Is that what you believe? Are you really so foolish?" Aizen's voice kept coming. "You are trying to deny me, because I exist beyond your understanding. But no matter what you say, I control everything. I am god. Blind yourself if you wish, it will not stop my power."

"No! You're not here!" Ichi Guo shouted, rushing forward and performing a jumping slash for where Aizen stood, expecting to either pass straight through or cut the man who was casting the illusion. But rather than disappearing, Aizen lifted the single remaining hand, and stilled Zangetsu, stopping the heavy blade underneath his lone index finger, the same way he had when they had first seen each other on execution hill. Ichi Guo found himself staring straight into the man's eyes. Seeing the cold confidence in them. Then he noticed it. He could feel the man's presence. "This... this pressure... You... you really are..."

"So you are finally looking properly, and now you see." Aizen said, his voice as cocky and cruel as ever. He put more and more pressure on Zangetsu and then, to Ichi Guo's shock, it shattered. Pain shot though his body as his spirit felt the damage dealt to its essence, causing the boy to collapse to the ground, unable to force his body to steady itself. He could taste blood and bile in his mouth. "Pathetic, to think an insect like you delayed my ascension to godhood. But it doesn't matter. I will now reclaim what is mine."

"What... what are you talking about?" Ichi Guo said, his mind still racing around in circles. His heart was beating so loud. He couldn't do anything.

Aizen just stared at Ichi Guo for a small instant, and then a small grin spread across his lips. "Do you really not know what I am talking about? Could it be that you haven't noticed? You honestly couldn't tell, could you?" Aizen said with some mirth in his voice. Then, he looked away from Ichi Guo and off to the side. "Then again, you never knew what was happening. You were just a tool in the events that played out around you. A blind follower, dancing to the tune that Urahara and I played for you. A puppet in our game. But to think that you would not notice, when it has been standing next to you all this time."

Ichi Guo's head slowly turned to see where the monster was looking, and to his horror, he saw his sister. Rukia had fallen backwards and was staring up at Aizen, too scared to move. The bastard had turned away from Ichi Guo and was walking slowly towards her. "Rukia, run!" He shouted, but she couldn't seem to move. He tried to move. Tried to force his limbs into action, but they refused.

He watched as the stub arm started to leak out a sort of black liquid and a demonic looking arm started to form in its place. Five jagged pillars sprouted up out of the ground, forming a circle around Rukia, who screamed in pain as red coils of electricity came up out of the ground, wrapping around her body. Aizen stopped right in front of her.

"Leave her alone dammit! Your fight is with me!" Ichi Guo shouted in a desperate attempt to stop the man from killing his reason for being.

"My fight? You are not worth my time." Aizen said in a dismissive manner. Then he drove the demonic arm into Rukia's small chest.

Ichi Guo's ears were filled with her screams of pain. He saw her writhing about, unable to do anything about it. Then Aizen slowly withdrew his arm, and her small frame fell to the ground, completely motionless.

Ichi Guo screamed, tears coming to his eyes as he cursed Aizen, but the monster simply grinned and turned toward him, holding up the demonic arm and uncoiling his fingers to reveal a bright jewel, one that gave off an energy like nothing else in the world. "And so, the Hōgyoku is mine once again."

He pressed it against his chest, and the jewel disappeared into the man's body, his power exploding.

Ichi Guo could feel it. It was the same as before. Power beyond anything else in the world. Power that defied all reason. The power of a god.

He watched, as everything fell apart right in front of him. His heart was broken. His will to continue lost. Fear and misery had taken hold of him completely.

He was unable to hear the one calling out his name.

* * *

"Ichi-nii! Ichi-nii! Please snap out of it!" Rukia cried as she shook her brother's shoulder.

Screaming. Everyone, everywhere was screaming out in fear and pain. Shi Nian was kneeling a few feet away, laughing like a man who had lost his mind. Her brother was lying on the ground twitching violently. His eyes were wide open, but the sharp gold eyes seemed unfocused and tears ran down his cheeks.

It was the first time she had ever seen her brother cry. He had always been confident and controlled. She had never once seen him afraid of anything. Seeing him this way, it made her scared.

"Aizen... Aizen... damn you." He moaned through choked breathes. Rukia shuddered at the pure despair in his voice. It wasn't like the screams of terror from the others, it was more sorrowful than afraid.

"That's right! Suffer! All of you stuffer!" Shi Nian shouted. "Let this world of nightmares take you, the Illusion of Shura! Enjoy your deaths!" The man had lost his senses and was starting to foam at the mouth.

Rukia looked at him. She was afraid. He was giving off more spiritual power than she had ever seen before in her short life. But her brother was suffering because of what this man was doing.

'What is there to fear?' Rukia froze as she heard a deep voice. She turned her head around, expecting to see someone standing behind her, but there was no one. 'Cast off your fear. Never stand still.' The voice continued to urge.

"Who..?" Rukia said confused, for a second forgetting what was going on.

'Fear is useless. It will only dull the blade.' Rukia found her eyes slowly being drawn towards the massive sword that lay next to her on the ground, her brother's sword spirit; Zangetsu. Her brother's grip on the sword was loose. 'No matter the storm that rages, your inner world must be tranquil. There is no room for doubt.'

Rukia's hand closed around the hilt of the blade and slowly pulled it out of her brother's hand. Though the sword was easily three times her size, it felt unbelievably light in the small girl's hands. Her hands found the grip, the same way her brother had shown her with the practice swords. She channeled her spirit into it, and found that it easier than before, her will quickly sharpening the blade. It felt so right to her. It felt like her brother.

Shi Nian was still laughing like a mad man, and he was still leaking an amount of spiritual power that was beyond what Rukia had imagined was possible. But with her brother's sword in hand, she didn't feel afraid. Whatever technique he had used, it was soaking up all his power to maintain it, so his spiritual barrier was all but gone.

Rukia lifted the massive blade, prepared for what she was going to do.

* * *

Ichi Guo took a few seconds to become fully aware of where he was. His eyes stung from tears and his throat felt like he had swallowed a mouthful of sand. But where a moment go, he had been staring at the plastered white body of the godly Aizen, feeling the weight of the unbelievable power, now all he could see was blue sky, and he couldn't sense a trace of the monster around.

He blinked a few times before checking again, focusing his sixth sense out, but still couldn't find a trace of the monster. But he did find something else. "Rukia!" He said, his throat stinging as he spoke. He pushed himself up as fast as he could to find her standing a few steps away from him, tears falling from her eyes.

"Ichi... I... I..." Her voice came in short bursts. But before she could say anything real, her brother was up, and had thrown his arms around her.

"You're alright. Oh thank goodness you're alright." He said a numbing relief passing over his body as his mind tried to make sense of it all.

"I... I killed him..." Rukia said, her voice breaking into a sob.

It wasn't until then that Ichi Guo realized that she had Zangetsu held loosely between her fingers. The blade was completely covered with blood, from the tip of the sword half way down towards the hilt. Then he saw the Spirit Master from before, the one who he had seen turn into Aizen; the fact that it had all been a dream brought about by the man's spirit essence slowly dawning on him. Not a true illusion that blinded the senses, but a prison formed within the mind.

He had a massive wound in the center of his chest. It looked as though Rukia had impaled the man on the end of Zangetsu. Unlike the swift cuts that Ichi Guo himself had used, Rukia would have been right in front of the man as he died, rather than having already moved past. And with the lack of speed in her sword swing, the blood hadn't moved off of the blade.

The little girl was shaking, probably trying to stop herself from vomiting from the smell of so much blood. Ichi Guo recognized it. The reactions brought on when you realized that you had just taken another's life for the very first time.

"Oh, Rukia." He said, pulling his sister's head into his shoulder, where she started to cry more openly. He slowly took Zangetsu out of her hand as he patted the back of her head. "You didn't do anything wrong. It will all be alright. I promise you." He said on the outside. But his mind was thinking something completely different.

'A hell of a world we have been born into. A place where a five year old girl has to kill a man.' He thought miserably. 'I'm going to take you away from this place. I will make sure that nothing like this ever happens to you again.'

He heard movement and whispers behind him and turned his head to see the remaining Spirit Masters starting to stand up; the students looking in shock at their Principal's dead body. Ichi Guo turned around to face them, his blade raised.

Though Ichi Guo was still outnumbered, these guys weren't nearly as strong as their elders. Not to mention they all seemed to have had their powers drained in order for that madman to pull whatever hypnotism that he did. Even better, they themselves had suffered the effects of the mental attack.

The students looked from Ichi Guo's blood stained sword, then to their fallen principal, then back again. "I suggested you all scram." Ichi Guo growled at them. The humor of a seven year old boy threatening them somewhat undermined by the blade he was holding and the bodies of those who fell by it in clear view.

Several of the grown men and late teens took steps back at the sight of the white in Ichi Guo's cold golden eyes fading to black. It wasn't a true activation of his beast spirit, but the intimidation factor was there.

One of them turned and started to run, pushing his fellows out of the way as he did so, screaming in panic. Then another started to run. Soon every single one of the spirit masters were out of the village limits, heading for the hills, leaving their carts, horses and the bodies of their teachers behind in their desire to get as much distance between themselves and the monster in guise of a child as they could.

It wasn't until every last one of them was out of sight that Ichi Guo let Zangetsu disappear, giving a short sigh. He could have probably killed the lot of them, but there had been enough death that day.

Besides, he still needed to see to his little sister, and make sure that he reached the village elder before the monsters did. Even if his body and soul were tired, he couldn't rest. Not yet.

He had to prepare.

There was no reason to believe that would be the end of it. He would leave the village, take his sister and get as far away as they could go. There would be no looking back. This chapter of their lives was over.

* * *

 **Ichi Guo's subconscious is telling him something he doesn't want to confront.**


	10. Chapter 10

Tang San was listening to his instructions from the principal as the students of Nuo Ding Academy gathered in the local church-like building. Or rather, he was reading while she talked. It wasn't anything he hadn't heard before, and his Master, Yu Xiao Gang, had given him a long book on the theory of soul structure to read.

It wasn't exactly a church, since the people of the Heaven Dou Empire didn't exactly worship any one god per se. Sure there were holy days dedicated to some of the old gods, and they would gather and listen to the stories of those old gods and the creation of this world, but that wasn't the primary purpose of this building, so calling it a church, a place of worship, isn't altogether accurate.

The real purpose was as a sort of governing building. A place where the locals could gather to have their voices heard, and a place where the monitoring of Spirit Masters could take place.

It wasn't like Spirit Masters were being controlled by the Heaven Dou Empire. But even so, Spirit Masters are potentially powerful individuals, and it pays to keep track of them. It wasn't mandatory, but the government paid the Spirit Masters a little to take part; money that went to the less privileged students' food bills.

At the moment, the children of Nuo Ding Academy were being gathered to have their spirit energy levels checked. It happened once a month, even though progression in spirit ranks was an altogether slow process, and someone would be considered to be doing pretty well if they managed to grow one or two ranks a year.

"This is sooooo boring. Brother, can't we just leave." Xiao Wu whined. She was slumped on the ground next to him, fanning herself against the heat with one hand.

Tang San only half glanced down at his adopted little sister, his usual smile passing over his face, the one that gave the impression of a patronizing adult, even though they were both only seven years old. "Not yet. They are going to be awakening the new children's spirit's first, then they will measure our spirit ranks." He said calmly.

Xiao Wu puffed out her cheeks and stared up at him with her large pink eyes, eyes like none Tang San had seen in anyone else before. They were a trait completely unique to the girl, probably stemming from her strong connection to her Beast Spirit, the Soft Boned Rabbit Demon; a spirit beast that was probably wrongly named a demon, since it is pink and fluffy and cute. "I don't see why I should even bother letting these people know my rank. I know it, isn't that good enough?" She said, swinging her head around so that her long brown braid flicked through the air like a whip. The braid was so long, that when standing, it came down to her heels.

"I suppose that is good enough. But if you leave now, the lady principal might take your carrots away." Tang San said in a neutral voice. He saw the way that Xiao Wu stiffened at the threat towards her carrots.

"She'd better not! If she tries to lay a single finger on my carrots!.." Xiao Wu bristled with indignant rage.

"Calm down. I'm sure if we just stay here, there won't be anything to worry about." Tang San said, carefully turning a page as the lecture from the principal continued undisturbed by the scene Xiao Wu was making.

"Why does the sun hate us?" Xiao Wu complained about the heat. Her eyes turned towards another student, one that was eleven years old. "You! Go get me a glass of water!" She said sharply.

"Y...yes Big Sister Xiao Wu, right away!" The boy said, running off as fast as he could to carry out the seven-year-old's demands.

Tang San rolled his eyes at the scene. It was widely known that Xiao Wu ruled over Nuo Ding Academy with an iron fist. No one dared question her after she beat up nearly a dozen upperclassmen during her first few days at the school. Not to mention her brother was also another possible contender for the title of strongest in school.

While most of the eleven year old upperclassmen were rank nine to thirteen, the two seven year olds had already reached rank fifteen. Not only that, they were a good deal more skilled at fighting than the other high ranking students and they were practiced in teamwork with one another.

"Why did we have to come on the same day as those little kids anyways? If we came by tomorrow, this would go a lot faster." Xiao Wu said, glancing over to where the little six year old boys and girls were having their essence spirits awakened.

"A good question, how about we ponder it for a few moments." Yu Xiao Gang said as he walked up to the small children.

"Master." Tang San said, bowing his head slightly in respect to his teacher. Yu Xiao Gang looked like he was half asleep, his eyes nearly closed and his posture slouched. His white hair showing from underneath the cape he wore on his head and unshaven face gave the impression that he didn't care too much about appearances.

Yu Xiao Gang had taken Tang San as his personal pupil during the first day of school, and had done his best to instruct him ever since. He was not the strongest of spirit masters, but his powers of deduction were terrifying in their own right, earning him the reputation of being the wisest philosopher of the age, and the endless respect of Tang San.

Sometimes the boy wondered if his master could read minds, as he always seemed to know more than was possible to know. But this would mean that he would have known Tang San's dark secret; the fact that he wasn't truly a boy of seven years.

Tang San was the reincarnation of a skilled warrior monk of the same name. One who had taken his own life after stealing his sect's sacred scrolls of knowledge. Though for some reason, he had not lost his memories during the cycle of reincarnation, and had found himself being reborn in another world, making him a child with all the knowledge gathered by an entire sect of trained spiritualist assassins over the course of a thousand years.

"If we consider the fact that our principal choose this day in particular to come, then she must be seeking to gain something. Most likely she is hoping to find a few talented young Spirit Master Trainees to recruit for the school before anyone else can get to them. And she believes the best way to do that would be showing off her prized genius students from humbled beginnings; a show of strength in order to seem more appealing than the other schools." Yu Xiao Gang said. He looked down at Tang San who nodded in agreement. It made sense, and since the master had said it, it was probably true.

Too bad for the principal, it didn't seem as though the pickings this season were that good. Out of the fifty three children who had been practically climbing over each other to get tested, only four had turned out to have any spirit power at all. Even then, they weren't genius level, just a few rank threes from lesser clans.

But before the awakening ceremony was over, just as Xiao Wu and Tang San were nodding off, one of the six-year-olds gave a small cry of panicked surprise.

At first, Tang San didn't believe his eyes, he even switched on his Purple Eyed Demon ability to verify what he was seeing, but it was really there. Through the front door of the Church in walked a large black cat, one and a half meters in length, two and a quarter if you include the tail, standing at about a meter off the ground. A silver vertical stripe in the center of its forehead and its white on black eyes, as well as the bits of bone over where the tail started, helped him identify it as a Night Storm Panther, somewhere close to two hundred years; a pale patch of fur on its side giving the impression that it had been injured recently, but had made a full recovery. Though, even its presence seemed uninteresting compared to the fact that there was a small girl riding on its back.

She looked like she was probably only five years old, six tops. She had pure black hair that fell down to her shoulders in a sort of controlled chaos and did a lot to frame her face, and her eyes were a shiny silver color. She looked a little nervous riding on top of the spirit beast, doing her best to avoid eye contact. She seemed to not like the stares.

Right next to her, walking beside the cat, was a young boy, who looked around eight years old, with bright orange hair and dark golden eyes. He walked with a sort of purpose, or maybe attitude is closer, as if nothing bothered him, not the girl on the cat nor the people staring.

Then, the girl started to speak, and Tang San found himself surprised again. " _Ichi-nii, they're staring at me._ " She said, sounding rather unhappy. But the surprising thing was that she wasn't speaking the native tongue, but rather Japanese.

Tang San remembered studying the language in his time in a previous life. Mostly so that he could decipher the scrolls on techniques and medicine that came from that cluster of islands off the coast. But to his knowledge, Japan didn't exist in this world, nor did its language.

" _Of course they're staring. You came in here riding Yoruichi like a warrior princess from a fairy tale. What did you think was going to happen?_ " The boy said in a relaxed, maybe a bit teasing tone of voice. It was hard to tell when it wasn't your native tongue. The girl shifted around uncomfortably on the cat's back. " _I thought you said that you would feel better with her around?_ "

" _I know but... What if they try to take me?_ " The girl mumbled looking towards where the teachers stood in dumb struck astonishment.

" _Then I'll kick their asses, now chin up, this is supposed to be a happy day for you. You're finally going to get your spirit awakened._ " The boy said, rolling his eyes. The cat gave a low purr and looked towards Tang San and the other children. " _Yeah, I know Yoruichi, I sense it too. But it shouldn't matter. We don't mess with it, it doesn't mess with us._ " The boy said, patting the cat on the head until it lost interest and turned back to the front. Tang San had no idea what that might have meant, but he didn't have time to ponder it too much. Translating what they were saying was taking all of his attention.

The six year olds scrambled to make room for the new party to make it up to the front of the group. "My little sister needs to have her essence spirit awakened." The boy said, having switched to the native language, and giving a slight gesture to the girl on the back of the spirit beast. His eyes were staring intently at the young spirit master in charge of the ceremony, as if daring him to question the boy's instruction.

"I... I see." The young man said, seeming a little on edge by the presence of the spirit beast. Even if an average spirit master could take on a beast of that age, it was rather intimidating to simply stand next to one. "What would her name and age be?"

"Rukia, age six." The boy said, crossing his arms and tapping his foot.

"R... Ruku... Aio... um..." The man struggled with the foreign name, unsure of how to spell it, his eyes moving from the clip board in his hand to the cat in front of him.

"Ru K Ao." The boy said, breaking it down for the man.

"Yes... thank you. Right, Rukia, please step onto the circle, and we can begin." The man said, stepping away from the cat and signaling to the magic circle on the ground.

Rukia climbed off of the cat and walked into the middle of the circle, same as all the children before her, only with a lot more people paying attention.

The glow was the same as before as her spirit started to be drawn out, her left hand shining from the spirit mark coming into existence. It looked like a five pointed star surrounded by a circle made of chains. Then, the essence spirit itself started to materialize. Small ribbons of blue light started to float around her hands, each one interlocking with another before turning dark until she had a long black chain in her hands.

She smiled as the chain hummed in her hands, giving off a faint glow before becoming a steady object in the world.

"Alright, now to test your spirit energy level." The Spirit Master said, holding out one of the crystal orbs they used to check spiritual power out to Rukia. She took it in both hands, and immediately the crystal started to glow with a steady mixture of bright blue and deep purple light.

The spirit master dropped his clip board in surprise. "I don't believe it. It's... a fully innate spiritual power." He said in amazement.

Tang San himself was also surprised to see it. A 'fully innate spiritual power' was what they called it when someone was already rank ten at the time of their spiritual awakening. They were supposed to be extremely rare. Only one out of every ten thousand spirit master, even in noble families, had it. Not only was it a leg up on everyone else, who had to spend time on reaching rank ten, but those who had it usually grew at a rate much faster than others.

And if you included himself and Xiao Wu, then there were three individuals with it in that one room at the same time.

With everything he had just seen in such a short period of time, he couldn't help but wonder, who were these people?

* * *

 **No, Ichi Guo and Rukia aren't joining the school. Ichi Guo is just going to kick the principle's ass while Yu Xiao Gang analyzes his spirits and then peace out.**

 **Rukia and Ichi Guo healed the monster cat as part of a training exercise, and then it decided to follow them around from then on. Rukia will have been the one to name it, but she named it after the stories her brother told her about the original Yoruichi.**

 **I don't care what you say, Yu Xiao Gang can totally see the future. That's how he knew to seduce the girl who would one day become the pope. Because he knew he would need that leverage over her to help save the life of the student he was going to someday have.**


	11. Chapter 11

Ichi Guo leaned back against one of the walls of the church, watching his little sister with a smile on his face. They had moved out of the way right after his sister's spirit was awakened. He himself was planning on getting himself registered and getting his month's spendings after everyone else had left the area.

So while he was waiting, he just watched his sister experimenting with her newly awakened spirit. It warmed his heart to see the childish excitement on her face as she moved her spiritual energy through the black chains, making them move, strengthening them or breaking them apart. The joy in her eyes at having an entire new world opened up to her, it was just like the old days in the forest, teaching her how to swing a sword properly for the first time.

" _So, what are you going to call it?_ " He asked her in a joking manner. He had known she had been wondering what kind of spirit she was going to get for days, and one of the things she had been thinking about was naming the spirit.

Usually the name was inherited, since most people's spirits end up very closely resembling their parents. But if your spirit was mutated, then you could name it yourself. Rukia had long since decided she wasn't going to have anything to do with the flower or gauntlets of her mother and father, and Ichi Guo himself assured her that she wouldn't get one of them. He had a suspicion when it came to her spirit, and her next few words confirmed the first of them.

" _Hm... Tensa._ " She said, a thoughtful look in her eyes.

" _Heavenly chain? Nice choice._ " He said, looking down at her and smiling knowingly. " _You take care of her, old man._ " He whispered to himself, too quietly for her to really hear him.

He had no idea how or why it was, but part of his Zanpakuto spirit had been born within his little sister. He had first started to suspect the night he got his first spirit halo, and time made him more and more of a believer.

"Excuse me." Ichi Guo's face returned to its stony expression as he glanced to his side to see a middle aged woman approaching the two of them. He could sense four spirit rings, not of the highest quality, but it meant she was at least rank forty.

She was dressed in a purple outfit that somewhat resembled formal wear if the slacks were replaced with a skirt that was bordering the classification of mini. She wasn't especially tall, but she wore high heels to hide that fact. Her wavy dark hair, stylized glasses, and the way her top seemed to be missing a button or two made her look a bit like the cross between a librarian and a stripper. Just one glance told Ichi Guo that he didn't really care for this lady, even before she started to talk, and if Rukia's sudden distasteful expression was anything to go by, she actually hated the woman on sight.

"Hello there darling. That was quite a show you managed, you really are a talented young girl." She said, having eyes only for Rukia.

Rukia's scowl turned into a false cheerful expression, and Ichi Guo had to stifle a laugh as she responded to the woman. "Thank you very much, Puo Puo." It was a respectful term of address, very respectful... if you were taking to your grandmother. The woman's eyebrow twitched at the term, but she did her best to retain control.

"Please, my name is Ping Qang, I'm the principal of Nuo Ding Academy. My school prides itself on helping talented young children like yourself learn the ins and outs of becoming top notch Spirit Masters, and I think we might just have a spot for you." She said, trying to keep her self-control up.

"No thanks." Rukia said shortly and quickly, clearly not even considering the offer.

Ping Qang's face was priceless as she tried to recover from the sudden dismissal. "Maybe you would like to take some more time to consider. It would be an absolute shame to waste your talents. If you want to grow then you are going to need a teacher." She said still forcing a smile.

"I already have someone to teach me." Rukia said, moving closer to her brother and grabbing onto his arm. "My brother is going to teach me everything I need to know."

Ping Qang stared at them for a second before starting to laugh a little. "Child, you need a real teacher. Regardless what childish fantasies you have, your 'brother' is only a child himself. He can't teach you all you need to know."

"Oh! You think you are stronger than my brother?" Rukia said before giving her own cold smile. "Do you want to prove it?"

"Excuse me?" Ping Qang asked, confused.

"How about a bet? You fight my Ichi-nii, and if you win, I will become a student at your school. But if we win then..." Rukia paused for a second, thinking about what the stakes would be. "Then we get to take whatever books we want from your library." She finished with a grin.

Ping Qang looked confused for a few more moments but then smiled herself. "While I usually don't promote gambling, this is for your own good, so I will accept these conditions." She said with a nod of the head. Then she started to lead the two siblings towards a spot nearby that the school apparently used for practices.

" _Since when are you interested in books?_ " Ichi Guo asked his sister in Japanese, raising a questioning eyebrow.

" _I'm not, but she's got to bet something, and I couldn't think of anything else that a school has._ " She said innocently.

" _You shouldn't do things like this just to spite people._ " Ichi Guo said calmly, not really all too interested in the fight. He might have even been a little disappointed in his sister for being so childish. She should have just told the lady to piss off and then ignored her. Instead she arranged a fight to show off how strong her brother was.

" _You aren't going to let her win to teach me a lesson, are you?_ " Rukia said, looking up to her brother with a pout on her face. Ichi Guo rolled his eyes at the expression, but his answer was clear enough, so Rukia smiled. " _Then I have nothing to worry about._ "

* * *

With Yoruichi in their small party, their presence didn't go unnoticed. The children saw them entering the training area with the principal and being curious children, they gathered around at a safe distance to watch what was happening.

"What's going on?" Xiao Wu asked as she walked up, a small path being made for her so she didn't even have to struggle to get front row seats.

"The principal is going to fight that boy who was with the monster cat girl. I heard something about some kind of bet." Wang Sheng said. The rather dim twelve year old son of a farmhand was one of the few students who still actively and willingly interacted with Xiao Wu beyond being a punching bag. He had been one of the dorm mates for Xiao Wu and Tang San when they had first got to the academy and saw himself as a monitor and guardian figure, even though his spirit power was only a rank nine and his tiger spirit wasn't all too powerful.

His black hair looked like it had never been brushed and there were a few bits of straw in it from when he had been sleeping during his part-time job.

"Kid's got to be stupid. I like a good fight as much as the next guy, but the principal is a rank forty six. Little much for a small fry kid to handle." Wang Sheng said, shaking his head in disappointment.

"Hm..." Xiao Wu hummed, staring towards where the orange haired boy was walking by. "I'm not so sure. There's something weird about that guy."

"What do you mean by that?" Tang San asked. He had his own suspicions about the boy, but wanted to hear Xiao Wu's take on it.

"Well... he smells red instead of white. Not a bright red, more of a rusty red. You know?" Xiao Wu said, looking to the two boys for confirmation, as if that was supposed to have explained everything.

"Uh... no." Wang Sheng said dumbly. "Don't be stupid, you can't smell color, no one can." The comment earned him a sharp kick in the stomach, knocking the breath out of him.

"Who asked you!?" Xiao Wu said sharply, turning up her nose, but then her small attention span snapped when she saw the large black cat and the little girl standing together near a wall with a perfect spot to watch whatever was going to happen, and before anyone could stop her, Xiao Wu was moving over. "Hello there!" She said cheerfully, startling the little girl a bit. The monster cat's ears twitched and it started at Xiao Wu, but otherwise didn't react. "I'm Xiao Wu, it's nice to meet you. What are your names?" She asked, seemingly unconcerned about being close to the cat.

"I...it's nice to meet you. I'm Rukia, and this is Yoruichi." Rukia said, giving a small tilt of the head towards the big cat. She looked more surprised at Xiao Wu's presence than was called for, as if she was meeting a unicorn rather than a seven year old girl.

"It's nice to meet you! Hey, can you tell me something?" Xiao Wu said in her normal cheerful tones as she pointed towards the girl's brother. "Why is it that he smells red?"

"Big sis, you not still on about that, are..." Wang Sheng started, but didn't get to finish before Rukia started to respond.

"It's been like that ever since my brother got his spirit awakened. It was white like everyone else's before that." Rukia said politely. "I'm not too sure how come, but that's the way it's been since then. Do you know why?"

"Hm... nope!" Xiao Wu said, tapping her chin. "I've never met any humans who didn't have white smells. You and your brother are the first. But now that you mention it, yours was also white before you woke up your spirit. Now it's all blue, with a bit of purple." Xiao Wu said as she started to sniff at the air around the girl. "Yeah, definitely purple."

"Bro San, why are girls so crazy?" Wang Sheng whispered to Tang San, unfortunately for him, Xiao Wu's rabbit ears picked it up and she gave him a death glare. Shivering in fear, he backed up a few steps until he bumped into Yu Xiao Gang who had joined the small party.

"She isn't crazy. She is just running into the same problem as a man who can see in a world where everyone is blind. Words simply don't exist to express what she is experiencing, and no one who can't see will believe her." Yu Xiao Gang said in his normal calm voice.

"Master, do you know what Xiao Wu is describing?" Tang San asked, curiosity clear in his eyes. More knowledge was within his reach. The former monk now child couldn't control himself. Old habits died hard. Actually, dying clearly wasn't enough to get rid of them.

Yu Xiao Gang nodded as he walked up next to them to look out towards the principal and Ichi Guo. "There is an advanced skill referred to as the inner sight, in which individuals gain the ability to sense spiritual power. It is a sort of sixth sense, often compared to the sense of smell, as multiple sources can be sensed from afar, and sometimes sources mingle while other, more powerful, spiritual energies would overshadow the others." Yu Xiao Gang explained, giving the two girls sideways glances. "When starting to prefect this skill, they can tell the difference between types of spirits from a long ways away. These differences are often compared to colors. Such abilities usually take decades of training in order to achieve. Mastery on this level are normally connected with the Spirit DouLuos and Titled DouLuos. For two children of less than ten years to already be able to use it... I'm impressed."

"That's right! Xiao Wu is the most talented ever!" Xiao Wu said, puffing out her chest in pride.

"If she just focused those talents." Tang San said with a sigh. If she ever had actually knuckled down to train, Tang San was sure that she would have quickly surpassed him in ability. Her level of raw talent was beyond just frightening.

The group silenced themselves as Ping Qang released her spirit halos. The four rings of light appearing around her; one white, two golden, and one purple. Most of the students in the clearing were whispering; each one of them thinking that the young boy didn't stand a chance against a Spirit Ancestor.

"I hope you don't have hard feeling about this, but you children need to understand that you need proper teachers. I won't let you ruin that poor child's future." Ping Qang said, earning only a grunt of annoyance from Ichi Guo, not at all intimidated by the show of power. Ping Qang raised her hands and a soft yellow glow formed in her right hand, becoming more distinct until it became a solid object.

"The principal is bringing out her essence spirit to fight a kid? Kind of harsh, don't you think?" Wang Sheng mumbled. "That blade is pretty sharp."

Her spirit was a knife, just over fifteen centimeters long, with a covered blade and a golden handle that looked similar to a star, earning it the name 'Falling Star Blade'.

Rukia scoffed at the comment. "You call that a blade? Please, that thing is hardly even a letter opener." She said as Ichi Guo raised up his own hand.

" _Tengoku hikisakimasu, Zangetsu._ " The orange haired boy said in a flat tone of voice. Ribbons of black and bloody red spirit energy flowed from his palm and condensed into the shape of a massive black blade which resembled a butcher's knife. The slab of metal was nearly twice the size of the boy's body but he swung it around with one hand to point it off to the side in a casual position, a white cloth tied around its handle was left flowing behind him. "I'm ready when you are."

"My brother is going to destroy her." Rukia said confidently.

"Wh... what was that he just said?" Wang Sheng asked, having been unable to understand Ichi Guo's words.

"'Rip open the kingdom of heaven, Moon Killer'" Tang San translated before interpreting. "Though it is probably the symbolic moon, meaning a worldly imitation of perfection that can't be reached, a sort of pretender to godhood. So a more actuate translation might be, Killer of the False God. An intimidating spirit chant, if anyone actually understands it."

Rukia blinked in surprise. "I didn't know that anyone other than my Ichi-nii and me spoke Japanese." She said, looking suspiciously at Tang San.

"I studied it for a while in order to interpret some writings on their medicine. A Rukia is a type of shrub, right? One that is often used as a cure for morning sickness." Tang San said, noticing as the girl blushed before grumbling in Japanese about how she wasn't a shrub and that her name meant a surreal dawn.

Ping Qang wasn't exactly intimidated though. She still believed herself to have the complete advantage, but she was disappointed that the young boy hadn't simply pulled out whenever she had revealed her spirit halos to him. It wasn't like she enjoyed hurting children.

She would just have to finish the fight as fast as possible without causing the child any real harm. The school had a few healers that could handle any bruising or scrapes.

So she summoned up her second spirit halo, a bright golden ring and prepared to use her essence spirit's speed to her advantage, ending the fight before it could really start.

" **Falling Star Blade: Second Spirit Skill: Shooting Slash!** " Ping Qang moved as if the knife in her hand was dragging her through the air in a straight path to Ichi Guo at a speed that would have startled your average individual who had never seen a speed type essence spirit before. She had dulled her blade in order to prevent undue harm from coming to the child, but her speed was still the real deal. With the speed and power allowed to her as a Spirit Ancestor, she was sure that she would be able to take him before he could even react.

So it surprised her as much as everyone else that when she started to get close, the boy accelerated to a speed that nearly matched her own, quickly moving past her charge. Before she could react to this new situation, she felt something wrapping around her ankles, tying them together so that she fell forward onto the ground with her arms still stretched out from her charge.

She was still trying to figure out what happened when she felt a foot pressing down on her back and her hair was blow to the side from the wind coming off of the boy's weapon as he swung it down just centimeter's from her face so that all she could see on her right side was the polished black metal.

"That makes one strike. Two more and you lose." Ichi Guo said as he pulled up his blade out of the ground and released to piece of cloth from the bottom of his sword that had tied Ping Qang's feet together.

"Wh...what?" Ping Qang said, still not believing what had happened.

"If I only beat you once, it would be because I took you by surprise. Twice could be a miracle. But three times... then it could only mean that I really am better than you." Ichi Guo said, giving a cocky smirk. "Now get back up, before I decide to start the next round while you're already on your hands and knees."

Tang San was as startled as the rest of the students at the events that had unfolded in front of them, the way that Ichi Guo was treating the entire thing like he was the one dealing with a child. But deeper down, he was annoyed. "He should have just taken the win." He mumbled. Tang San was a firm believer in not looking a gift horse in the mouth. So when you win against a strong foe, whether through deceit, luck or careful strategy, you take that win to the bank, because it still counts. This act of not just winning, but then saying you will do it two more times to prove yourself is just cocky.

"That... that little kid just beat a Spirit Ancestor." Wang Sheng said, slack jawed as he stared in disbelief.

"That part isn't all that surprising." Yu Xiao Gang said, pulling at one of the small hairs on his beard. "He wouldn't have accepted the challenge if he didn't have a plan in mind for dealing with a stronger opponent."

"Right, like when Xiao Wu attacked that one pervert that had been targeting the school girls." Tang San said, causing Wang Sheng to shiver at the memory.

A few weeks back, some pervert had shown up and started to try to lure away the young girls of the academy. The teachers didn't know what to do, because the man was a Spirit King, and was therefore stronger than them. It was Xiao Wu that ended up being the one to stop it. Her methods were both cunning and cruel, tricking the man into eating poison to weaken him to the point where he couldn't fight back before breaking half the bones in the man's body.

"Pig deserved it." Xiao Wu scoffed angrily.

"Yes, well. The thing that is strange here is that speed he showed. His spirit isn't a speed type, yet he managed to reach high speeds without the need for a spirit halo skill." Yu Xiao Gang said looking towards the orange haired boy. "Meaning that he has already discovered a way to use his spirit energy outside of just his essence spirit."

The principal still looked a bit shocked as she got to her feet, but soon a sort of greed passed over her face. "I should have guessed. Talent runs in your family, doesn't it?" She said with a smile, one Ichi Guo didn't return. "How about we make things more interesting then. Raise the stakes. If I win, you will also join my academy, along with your darling little sister." She said with a sickeningly sweet voice. "And if I lose, then you can have this." She reached into her shirt and pulled out a necklace, one with a bright pink gem in the center.

Ichi Guo was about to make a smart-ass comment, but before he could, the woman focused a bit of spirit energy into the gem and it glowed. Out of the necklace popped a spare pair of glasses. Now it was Ichi Guo's turn to look surprised.

"I suppose you have never seen a spirit artifact before? This necklace can hold up to ten tons of anything you want to fill it with. So what do you say? We have a deal?" Ping Qang said with a smile.

"It would seem our principal's greed has overwhelmed her good sense." Yu Xiao Gang said with a sigh. "Why must I forever be cursed to work with such greedy people?"

"Go get her Ichi-nii!" Rukia shouted, much more excited about having that necklace than the books.

Ichi Guo himself recovered and grinned, his own interest piqued. "Sure. It's a bet." He said, lifting up his sword and resting it on his shoulder. "Now, how about we actually get this started."

Ping Qang's smile slowly slid off of her face as four dark purple rings appeared behind Ichi Guo's body, slowly circling as he continued to grin.

"No fucking way." Wang Sheng said in disbelief.

"I told you. My brother is going to destroy her." Rukia said proudly.


	12. Chapter 12

Ichi Guo didn't give the Principal enough time to recover from her surprise. Her speed was fairly impressive as she made to guard his strike, and for her to actually catch Zangetsu with that short dagger showed that she had some skill. That said, she was completely out of her league when it came to combat experience and technique.

Two high slashes, the first to get her guard, the second to make her cement her footing. Ichi Guo pulled back for a third attack, making it look as though he was continuing the strike pattern when he released his left hand and delivered a solid punch to the woman's stomach, knocking the air out of her lungs before slapping her again with his heavy sword.

Ping Qang staggered back, gasping for breath, and Ichi Guo continued to play with her. Moving about her and striking at her every time she tried to regain her footing. Slashes, kicks, punches. His style was too difficult to read for even an experienced fighter. The grade school combat teacher was batted around like a squeaky toy being played with by an energetic cat.

Finally, after a little bit, Ichi Guo let up on his attacks, giving the woman a chance to retreat. She moved away to a safe distance as fast as she could and stared at the boy, as if she didn't want to blink, in case she missed something.

Ichi Guo had pushed his sword up onto his shoulder and was looking at Ping Qang with a bored expression. "I thought we were going to be fighting. Are you going to try to win this or not?" He taunted.

"How is it possible for someone so young to be a Spirit Ancestor?" Wang Sheng said as he watched his principal being pushed back like a beginner.

"Yes, it would be surprising to find someone who had managed to become a Spirit Ancestor at such a young age." Yu Xiao Gang said, nodding, though he didn't share his student's slack jawed astonishment. "However, something tells me that isn't what is going on. Not unless he is holding back."

"What are you talking about, Master? He's stomping all over Ping Qang." Wang Sheng said.

"He was, by taking advantage of her surprise and maintaining enough of an offense to keep her off balance. However, he wasn't overpowering her with his strength. Given that his Spirit Essense appears to be a power type, if he was a Spirit Ancestor, he would easily overpower her in a single blow without too much difficulty." Yu Xiao Gang said calmly. "Something else is going on here. Though I'm not entirely sure what."

"Were the rings an illusion?" Tang San suggested.

"No, my Ichi-nii doesn't use stupid illusions." Rukia exclaimed, offended at the suggestion. "He's the real deal."

" **Falling Star Blade: First Spirit Skill: Star Shot!** " Ping Qang said as she threw her knife at Ichi Guo. The boy lazily leaned out of the way of the attack, his expression still bored.

"You really think that's going to work?" He said. Ping Qang had to control her expression as the knife changed direction mid-flight, coming back around to attack the boy from his blind side. However, he batted it away with his sword without even looking at it. "Not fast enough, and not complex enough. You're being too easy to read."

"I see, well then how about this. **Falling Star Blade** **: Third Spirit Skill: Splitting Rainbow!** " Ping Qang shouted. Her dagger began to glow before splitting into seven copies of itself mid-flight, each one a different color and all still locked onto Ichi Guo.

The reincarnated reaper still wasn't impressed. How many times had he had to fight against Senbonzakura's hundreds of thousands of blades. A mere seven was child's play. Not to mention the difference in skill of the users.

Ichi Guo moved forward at high speeds, narrowly dodging the multi-colored knives out of a lack of concern about their existence. Ping Qang could only stand there with a slacked jaw as he moved straight up in front of her. She had put all her concentration into controlling the flying blades, leaving her completely unprepared for the frontal assault. She barely managed to get out of the way before Ichi Guo's attack would have made for a strike number two. Though her managing to evade had more to do with the boy holding back his swing to make sure he didn't accidently chop her in half than her being prepared.

Ping Qang used her speed to build up distance as she tried to control her knives to attack Ichi Guo in a formation that would stop him from easily dodging it. The seven blades arranged themselves in a hexagon with the seventh blade in the middle. Each of the outside weapons meant to stop the boy from simply stepping to the side.

Ichi Guo brought up Zangetsu, holding one hand on the hilt and the other half way up the flat side of the sword. " **Zangetsu: Second Spirit Skill: Lunar Guard!** " Half transparent black hexagonal plates formed in the air in front of him, shaping together into a large barrier between Ichi Guo himself and the knives.

As each of the blades shattered from coming into contact with the unmoving barrier Ping Qang staggered in shock from her spirit essence's form breaking. The opening cost her as Ichi Guo moved in and kicked her in the head, sending her down to the ground where she was met once again with a blade pressed up next to her neck.

"Strike two." Ichi Guo said in a cocky tone. "Want to continue, or save yourself the embarrassment and quit now?"

"I... give up." Ping Qang said, dropping her head in defeat. Ichi Guo's expression changed to something resembling disappointment.

However, that didn't last long as he felt an oncoming attack. Pulling up his sword and spinning around to guard against the strike, he found himself facing a seven year old girl who was wearing boots will blades on them. Sparks flew as he stopped the double drop kick she had been aiming for him and repelled her. The girl flipped through the air like an expert and landed on her feet with ease.

"If our greedy principal doesn't feel like fighting anymore, then Xiao Wu wants to have a crack at it!" The girl said with a wide smile, flipping back her long braided hair that was tied up with something that appeared to be bunny ears.

Ichi Guo glanced down at his own feet. There was a small bit of dirt pushed up from how the girl had forced his stance back. Even if it was a surprise attack, it was more than anything her principal had managed. "If you insist, I don't see why you can't have the final bout."

"So you do want to dance then! Well, let's dance!" Xiao Wu said before moving in on Ichi Guo. The way she flipped and spun in the air, along with the way she mixed in feints with her heavy strikes made her style of fighting a bit harder to read than the teacher's.

"Jujitsu. You use jujitsu, don't you?" Ichi Guo said as he warded off an attempt to grab at his shoulders with her legs. "Not bad. Have to say you're the first person with a beast spirit I've seen to use an actual fighting style instead of just swinging their fists and feet everywhere." But then as she tried for another drop kick on him, he stepped inwards, letting go of Zangetsu and grabbing her leg, using her own momentum to throw her. She landed easily on her feet a few meters away.

Ichi Guo was going to move in, when some spiritual energy leaked from the ground beneath him and he Shunpoed out of the way as hundreds of blades of blue silver grass grew out of the soil underneath his feet.

"Sorry, but since you're older than us, I hope you don't mind we have this be a two-on-one battle." Tang San said as he took up a position next to Xiao Wu. He was standing straight with his hands folded behind his back and a smile on his face.

Ichi Guo sized the boy up. "Feel free. I might have a good fight for a change."

"We'll give it our best." Tang San said with a chuckle, as if he knew something that Ichi Guo didn't. The boy's strange adrift personality was reminding Ichi Guo vaguely of Urahara. All he needed was a bucket hat and a fan. "I'm Tang San, rank fifteen, Blue Silver Grass."

"I'm Xiao Wu, rank fifteen, Soft Boned Rabbit Demon." The girl said with a playful wink.

"Ichi Guo, rank twenty four, Soul Kill Sword." Ichi Guo replied with a shrug. It was only polite. They had introduced themselves first after all.

"Wah? Only twenty four, how boring." Xiao Wu said, putting her arms behind her head and kicking at a loose rock with her steel boots. Tang San didn't change his facial expression, but his mind mulled over what he had been told. So this mystery boy was really only rank twenty four. Still ridiculously high for an eight year old, but not as unbelievable as rank forty plus. It would explain why he didn't see any spirit expert markings on the spirit rings earlier. He hadn't really reached a high enough rank for that.

But there was still the fact that he had four spirit rings that was left unexplained and the fact that they were all of a quality beyond what his soul should allow him to absorb.

"Well, we will try to give you a good fight, ' _Senpai_ '." Tang San said, surprising Ichi Guo by the use of the Japanese honorific. That didn't mean that he wasn't prepared when the attack came. " **Blue Silver Grass: First Spirit Skill: Binding.** "

Tang San swiped his hidden hands outwards. His right hand was covered in a glove made of his spirit essence, the real guard form of his spirit. Strands of grass flew from the glove as swift as arrows.

Ichi Guo was not taken off guard, simply slashing the grass to ribbons before it could reach him. The rabbit girl rushed towards him, her movement suggesting a frontal attack, but when she jumped she went over Ichi Guo, outside of his sword reach. Turning around, he easily blocked the kick aimed for his side with his sword, and when she spun to try to kick at his head, he dipped out of the way of that.

Tang San moved in quick while Ichi Guo's attention was grabbed, using his shadow track skill to move at high speeds. With his spirit essence established as a control type, his opponent shouldn't have been able to see the sudden burst of speed coming. So he was shocked when his punch was casually brushed aside by an open palm before said palm hit him in the forehead, knocking him backwards. Ichi Guo had detected the sneak attack without even looking, and countered it even as he repulsed Xiao Wu's heavy attacks.

Struggling to regain his balance, Tang San tried a change of tactics. Pulling back an armband on his left arm which covered a set of hidden steel arrows on a bracelet mount. Aiming carefully at the older boy's leg, so as to not cause accidental damage, he let the bolt fly.

Ichi Guo was actually surprised when he felt the steel dart entering his leg. It had been completely lacking in any spiritual pressure that he would be able to sense it with, yet its shape and speed allowed it to move through his spirit guard. It was only through old stubbornness that he didn't even react to the sting of pain; shifting his attention to the boy with the darts. Two more of the small arrows flew, but this time Ichi Guo was ready, positioning his over-sized sword in the way of the attack before moving in on the boy.

Tang San wasn't expecting his arrows to be so ineffective. Ichi Guo moved in on him as if the bolt wasn't even there. He tried to move out of the way with his shadow track technique, but the older boy used his own speed technique to keep up. It was only Xiao Wu interfering with another drop kick that stopped Tang San from being introduced to the heavy sword's flat side.

Ichi Guo's legs still didn't buckle underneath the rabbit girl's attack, even with the small injury to his leg. He still managed to out leverage her and send her up into the air. He had expected the move to push her a good distance away and give him some time before she could come back. He hadn't expected for strands of Blue Silver Grass to wrap around her wrists and pull her back into a drill kick, moving straight towards him. His sword was out of position because of his riposte, but not so far out of position that he couldn't move to block.

" **Controller of the Crane and Dragon.** " Tang San said, as he moved his hand in a strange way. Ichi Guo felt the spiritual energy locking his arm in place, stopping him from moving to block. His mind immediately thought it was a Bakudō holding him still.

"We win!" Xiao Wu said cheerfully as her foot was coming down towards Ichi Guo's head.

"No." Ichi Guo growled, a smile spreading over his face. His left hand moved over his eyes and a black flame spread across his face and the left hand. Xiao Wu gave a gasp of surprise as a white bone-like claw wrapped around her ankle. Ichi Guo's spiritual pressure increased and he shrugged off Tang San's bind.

As he spun around, throwing Xiao Wu at Tang San, knocking them both onto the ground, Tang San got a good look at him. The top half of his face was covered by a white plaster like mask with red marks on it, and his left hand was covered in the same type of material, giving his hand the appearance of a claw, with a kind of red fluff around the wrist.

" **Getsuga Tenshou!** " The black wave of energy passed right next to the two downed kids, leaving a twelve meter long trail, just under half a meter thick, sunken into the ground. "Strike three." Ichi Guo's slightly echoing voice said as the mask and claw faded away.


	13. Chapter 13

"Twin spirits." Tang San mumbled as he tried to regain himself. The counter attack had been outside of what he predicted to be possible. Using the 'Controller of the Crane and Dragon' in order to restrain their opponents guard long enough for Xiao Wu to preform one of her heavy attacks was a combo that hadn't ever failed before.

It was starting to make sense. His ability to reach such a high rank so quickly. During the lower ranks, one could boost themselves along by absorbing higher powered spirit rings. That's why the first spirit ring is still considered important for future spirit masters to choose wisely, even though the actual effectiveness of that first tier skill falls off quickly.

By absorbing spirit rings that were so close to the believed limit for safe attempts, Tang San and Xiao Wu had managed to skip from rank ten to rank thirteen. And if a four hundred year old spirit could let them skip so many ranks, what would two or even four thousand-plus spirit rings let him skip? Such a method would fall off quickly and provide nearly zero benefit once you reached rank thirty, but the head start would be huge.

"Carrots..." Xiao Wu giggled to herself as she pushed herself to her feet. She seemed a little light headed.

"Xiao Wu, are you alright?" Tang San asked his adopted sister.

"She'll be fine. The toxins in my grip come from the Heaven Swallowing Python I absorbed a few days ago, it's only a hallucinogen. She should snap out of it in a few minutes." Ichi Guo said, looking over at Tang San. "Who the hell are you? I understand why the rabbit is as skilled as she is, but something tells me you didn't learn to use hidden weapons or binding spells at this school. So where did you learn it?"

"I invented them myself." Tang San said a little defensively. He wondered what the boy meant by the comment about Xiao Wu's skills, but he didn't want to reveal his own origins. Not in front of so many people.

"Bull crap!" Ichi Guo said with a scoff. Tang San winced at the conclusion that the boy reached. It was odd how others hadn't reached the same conclusion. But then, to his surprise, Ichi Guo seemed to just stop caring. "Whatever, none of my business anyways."

"How about you? Where did you learn to do that?" Tang San asked, pointing towards the gash in the ground left by the older boy's technique.

"Would you believe me if I told you I learned it from a creepy man in a stupid hat who reported to have free candy?" Ichi Guo said, raising an eyebrow.

"Um... no." Tang San said, awkwardly fingering at the ornament that hung from his hair.

"And out of the two of us, I'm the one telling the truth." Ichi Guo said before turning his head towards the principal. Rukia was standing there with her chest puffed out.

"You lost our bet, time to pay up." She said cheerfully even as the woman seemed to be on the brink of tears. Ping Qang had just let two of the most promising students she could have found slip through her fingers, and she had lost a bet. Not to mention that everyone saw it.

Ichi Guo started to walk away from Tang San when the monk boy called out after him. "Wait! The dart in your leg!" He shouted.

Ichi Guo paused. "Oh, right. Forgot about that." He said, looking down at the piece of metal sticking out of his leg. Tang San was about to suggested letting him remove it to minimize the damaged caused by removing it, when Ichi Guo grabbed onto the thing and ripped it out, barbs and all, cutting open his leg. He didn't even wince as he pulled the thing out, as if the pain was nothing.

Tang San's eyes widened, and his thoughts immediately went to getting a healer when the boy placed a hand over the wound. His fingers began to glow green, and he had a look of concentration on his face. A few seconds later, he removed his hand to show that the cut had been patched up. Then, he just kept walking, as if nothing had happened.

"What in the world is he?" Tang San mumbled to himself. Just like Tang San himself knew too many skills for any seven year old boy, this person was far too skilled for an eight-year-old, not to mention he spoke a language that Tang San was fairly sure didn't exist in this world. The most reasonable conclusion that Tang San could draw was that he was also someone who was reincarnated with his memories intact. Someone who had been a master swordsman and a spiritualist in a previous life. He had read a bit about Japanese Samurai, Shinobi and Onmyōji. It wasn't impossible.

However, his personality wasn't very noble-like. He talked more like a thug rather than a proud warrior; a mercenary or some kind of pariah perhaps? Or maybe their societies are just more accepting of cocky assholes. It seemed like that was the case in Heaven Dou Empire. Tang San would grudgingly admit to himself that the longer he lived in this new world, the more cocky he became. Emotions and personal pleasure started to rule out over logic and honor.

He knew his old master would have been disappointed with him, letting his pride get him involved in fights when he hadn't done proper preparations for it. His original sneak attack had been rather half-assed. Not to mention revealing his knowledge of Japanese without considering the consequences. Maybe he was getting too cocky too. Maybe this Ichi Guo had been a real proud warrior before in his old life, and he just started to get cocky after reincarnation.

Tang San tried to run the battle through his head, analyzing the boy's attack patterns. It was clear that he was a veteran. Not just someone who trained for many years to master a style, but an actual war veteran. Even though Tang San had spent a lifetime Mastering the theology and skills of the Tang Sect, he had not been in any wars personally. He had only ever read or been told about the differences between people who had lived true battle compared to people who had only studied it. The difference in reaction speed was incredible.

While Tang San would believe that his plans had been better within that fight, the speed of Ichi Guo's reflexes had let him find a way out of Tang San's traps before he could be taken down. It had been a battle between theory and experience as much as a battle between powers, and experience had won.

"Don't get discouraged." Yu Xiao Gang said as he walked up to his students. He looked as tired as ever, as if the battle hadn't done anything to excite him. "The two of you are talented, but you weren't ready to fight such an opponent just yet. Give yourself time and let this be a learning experience. From failure, learn your weaknesses and prepare for the next encounter."

Tang San smiled. "Master, I am not discouraged. It gladdens me to see that there is still so much for me to learn. The fact that he exists means that there are greater possibilities." Tang San said, meaning every word of it. "I will train harder and smarter, until I can bridge the gap between experience and knowledge."

"Yes. That's a good way of seeing it." The Master said with a short nod. He also looked as Ichi Guo and Rukia were being led away. "A pity, they would have made interesting students."

"Hey! You aren't thinking of replacing us, are you Master!?" Xiao Wu said angrily as she got over the effects of the mild poisoning.

"Wouldn't think about it." Yu Xiao Gang said, a weak smile passing over his face. "Xiao San, make sure you meditate on the events of today. Consider your assumption and see if they are worth making."

"Yes, Master." Tang San said with a bow as his teacher took his leave coughing into his hand.

* * *

Yu Xiao Gang spent hours in his study, trying to figure out what exactly had happened during that day's match. He hadn't been surprised at all by the fact that his 'boss' lost. The woman put far too much value in raw power and speed, neglecting planning and style in her battles. But for Tang San and Xiao Wu to lose had been slightly surprising to him.

Both Tang San and Xiao Wu were more than just talented in the field of raw power, their skills and teamwork were top notch. The two of them could have gone up against any or even all of the teachers and have a good chance of coming out on top. Ichi Guo had just been a different type of monster entirely. It was as if fighting was his nature, rather than something he had simply practiced. Even now, Yu Xiao Gang was having a hard time wrapping his mind around what the boy had been able to do.

Twin Spirits. The greater diversity in attack patterns was a good boon on the battlefield, but the visible second it takes to switch from one to the other is a fatal flaw. Tang San also had twin spirits, and Yu Xiao Gang had advised him to focus solely on his Blue Silver Grass, despite it being the weaker of the two spirits.

This was for two reasons, the first being that his second spirit, the Clear Sky Hammer would grab the wrong kind of attention. The second was because of a plan to wait until he was able to absorb much higher rank spirit rings so that even his lower tier skills would be as powerful as high tier skills, making the ultimate spirit essence.

But with what he had seen, that idea was coming into question.

Ichi Guo possessed spirit rings that far exceeded his current level, and on both spirit essences. Was there a possible loophole in the use of such spirit essences? Something that could give Tang San an even greater edge? As Tang San's mentor, it was his duty to make sure he explored every possible option to insure his disciple's success.

However, there was something that bugged him. Ichi Guo had manifested both of his twin spirits at the same time. Something that he shouldn't have been able to do. It was a rule imposed by the very nature of spirit essences that you could only synchronize with one at a time. So how had the boy used two at once?

"Unless he didn't." Yu Xiao Gang mumbled to himself. "He made two spirits one." Pulling out some paper he started to rapidly draw out calculations and theories. It was not something that had happened before to his knowledge. The situation would have been rare enough for no one to even try. He wasn't even sure if it was possible. "Spirit Fusion with only one person involved."

Spirit Fusion involved a resonance between two spirit essences with a noise factor of less than twenty percent. For any two spirits to be able to perform it was extremely unlikely. The odds were roughly one in fifty thousand. So when combined with the one in a hundred chance of twin spirits, you have a one in five million chance of it happening. Not by any means impossible, but rare enough that no one would even think to look for it. Had such individuals always existed but have been simply overlooked and gone untrained due to the case being unknown?

Could a single host manage to sustain a Spirit Fusion? Yu Xiao Gang had no idea. In his experience, Spirit Fusion had always been between two or more skilled Spirit Masters, not a single individual.

If two Greater Spirit Master's preformed a Spirit Fusion, then the byproduct would be a power that could match a Spirit Ancestor with ease. What if Tang San could do something similar? Unlikely, but would take more research to be sure.

Yu Xiao Gang got up from his desk and moved through the hallway towards the library, his eyes still focused on the book in his hand, though his mind wondered to what other resources he would need. It wasn't until he actually went to the shelf where the book he wanted should have been, patting the spot where it should be only to find nothing there that he looked up. His jaw dropped open as his book slid out of his hand. Not only that shelf was empty, but all of the shelves were.

"Wha... What happened to all my books!?"

* * *

 **Saying that Ichigo has combat experience is like saying that the ocean is wet.**

 **While Tang San has his skills, he is more of a person who has studied combat, rather than someone who has lived it. So there will be differences between how Ichigo and Tang San approach things.**

 **For example, Ichigo's opinion of Tang San is... whatever... nice fight. Not really curious, and content to mind his own business as long as no lives are at risk. While Tang San deeply wants to get whatever information he can to learn and get stronger.**

 **Ichigo is like a free lance bodyguard, while Tang San is a monk assassin(or maybe the leader of a group of assassins).**

 **I'm on some new meds right now, so I might be talking nonsense here. Please feel free to ignore it.**

 **I'm wanting to spoil things for you guys. Not out of any desire to ruin the reading experience for people, but because I realize that there is about 1% of you people how are simply impatient beyond belief and are going to make all the wrong assumption before I have a chance to explain. Then they are going to whine my ear off about it.**

 **For example, I have received several reviews stating how stupid it is to bring Aizen back from the dead as the main bad guy, even after I already established that it was a nightmare, simply because people wouldn't read on to the next freaking page before giving me crap. It was even obvious before you read the next chapter that he wasn't real.**

 **None of you people who did it ever even apologized. Assholes.**

 **Anyways. Consider this line your spoiler warning. Just stop reading here if you believe yourself smart enough to see things coming or want to keep it a surprise or are willing to keep your mouth shut and not to get confused or anger that it takes five minutes to establish a plot before you can do the plot twist.**

 **/spoilers/ /spoilers/ /spoilers/ /spoilers/ /spoilers/ /spoilers/**

 **Rukia has the Hōgyoku inside of her as a second Spirit Essence, and Old Man Zangetsu is keeping it hidden. I've already hinted towards this several times and it will be hinted to a lot more in the coming chapters before I openly reveal it in the plot (if I ever get that far). Ichigo's use of Spirit Fusion has its negative effects that he doesn't know about yet, which he will later have to overcome. (again, if I ever get that far)**


	14. Chapter 14

Ning Rong Rong shouldn't have been there. Her father had wanted her to just wait at the family's castle for their servants to fetch a spirit beast for her second spirit ring. If only she hadn't been so proud, maybe she wouldn't be in this situation, staring death in the jaws. Several pairs of jaws.

Five massive heads, each covered in black scales and looking like the cross between deer heads and serpents. All attached to a single broad ox-like body the size of a large house covered in the same dark scales. Each neck was as long and thick as the surrounding trees in the Forest of Winds End. They made a sound similar to the crash of thunder each time the necks smashed together as they thrashed about.

Rong Rong was huddled back with the other children of her Clan who had been sent to find their spirit rings, cornered in a small valley as the escorts they had been sent with tried desperately to protect them.

With twelve children who were all hardly trained and only five adults, running was not an option. The creature was just too large for them to outrun. Fighting also seemed fruitless. Even with three Spirit Ancestors and two Spirit Kings, they could hardly even scratch the monster's outer plating.

It was a Storm Wrath Black Dragon, an extremely rare and dangerous breed of Spirit Monster. One that should have been much deeper in the forest. The breed was born with only a single head but grew a second one after it turned two thousand years old. After that, it grew another each time it's age doubled. This leviathan must have been at least twenty thousand years old.

Ning Rong Rong was scared. Any ten year old would be. She was the heiress of one of the most powerful families in the entire empire, the Seven Treasured Glass Tower Clan, second only to the Imperial family itself in influence. She was too naive and childish to even realize that she shouldn't wear her bright yellow ballroom dress into the forest.

One of the heads hit Lin Qi, a man who used an Owl spirit essence, out of the air. "Great Owl Spirit: Fourth Spirit Skill: Winged Barrier." Lin Qi said, his wings folding in front of him and starting to glow with his spiritual power. The Monster Head smacked down on the folded wings again and again, trying to muscle its way through the shield, and making sure that the owl-man couldn't move.

Rong Rong was staring in horror until Chen Yan, another one of the children stepped forward. She was twelve, just a bit older than Rong Rong herself, though they had both only just reached rank twenty and retrieved their second spirit rings. She was shaking a bit too, but she tried to hide it with a determined look on her face. "I can't just keep watching this. I'm going to help."

"Yan, you can't." Rong Rong said.

"I have to." Yan said, her hand going to her side as she called up the blade that characterized her Clan; the Seven Kill Sword. The long, double sided, pink crystal blade seemed to glow slightly, its golden hilt containing almost no guard at all. It looked like a work of art as much as a weapon.

Standing there with her sword held at her side, she looked a bit like her grandfather, though her long silver hair was tied up on one side with an ornament that looked like a crescent moon. Her pale skin reflected the light coming from her sword, and her honey golden eyes were sharp and determined.

"Please Rong Rong, I'm not strong enough to do this alone. Support me." Chen Yan said, steadying her weapon.

Rong Rong slowly started to nod. Her family prided itself on being the best support class Spirit Masters. She couldn't let her own fears stop her from doing what she had always meant to do. Her hands clasped together and when they parted, she was holding a beautiful crystal model of a seven storied tower. " **Seven Treasured Glass Tower: First Day: Power, Second Day: Speed.** " She said focusing her spiritual power to bind her strength with Chen Yan's.

Chen Yan rushed forward, her speed greatly increased by Rong Rong's spirit skill. As she moved towards where Lin Qi was being pinned, she gripped her sword in both hands, pushing more and more spiritual power into it. Then, the single sword split into two. " **Divine Sword Art: Fated Crossroads!** "

It didn't matter how old the Essence Monster was, its hardened scales weren't enough to stop the legendary piercing power of the Seven Kill Sword. The cross slash dug into the monster's extended neck, cutting a deep gash into it. The head reared up, screaming in rage and thrashed about some more.

Chen Yan had to guard as the thrashing brought the damaged neck slamming into her, knocking her down. She gave a gasp of pain as she hit the ground hard, a throbbing sensation in her side making her dizzy. As she got up to her feet, her world spinning slightly, she saw the head she had attacked looking straight at her. The cut on its neck was quickly closing, smoke coming from the edges of the wound as it was covered by new scales, leaving only a cross shaped scar to show that the injury had ever been there.

Chen Yan froze, all of her swordsmanship training abandoning her at the sight of the monster's glare.

Right as the attack came, Chen Yan felt herself being pushed aside by Lin Qi. The owl spirit user had pushed her out of the way of the monster's attack. Chen Yan's skin crawled as she heard Lin Qi give a scream of pain.

Teeth sank deep into the man's arm and he was hoisted up into air and shaken about. His arm was broken and deep cuts were being ripped into his flesh, causing a loose rain of blood. "No!" Ning Rong Rong shrieked as the head threw Lin Qi straight up into the air and began to position itself underneath him, preparing to swallow his broken body whole.

" **Tensa: First Spirit Skill: Arcing Chains.** " A black chain flew through the air, wrapping around Lin Qi and pulling him out of the way of the monster's jaws.

Eyes followed the chain back up to its source. A black blur moved into the clearing stopping in the path of the falling Lin Qi, catching him before falling down to the ground and skidding across the earth to come to a complete stop.

Neither Chen Yan or Ning Rong Rong could believe what they were seeing. It was a little girl, no older than eight, sitting on top of a large black cat the size of a young horse. The black chains, her spirit essence, was laced around her arms and into her hands, where she had guided them to saving the man's life. Her short black hair and silver eyes had a sort of wild grace to them.

It would have almost been a noble picture, a tiny Princess of the Wild, if it wasn't for the boy's jeans and casual heavy shirt she wore along with thick shoes. Deep in the back of Rong Rong's mind, in the part of her that wasn't overwhelmed by the situation she had found herself in, she thought it was a waste that the girl wasn't in a pretty dress, something sunshine yellow and frilly, or at least a nice skirt with a top featuring a cute animal.

One of the links of the chain broke off into the palm of the girls hand before dissolving into spiritual particles. The flakes of blue light twisted together, condensing into a solid blue mass before flattening out into something resembling a throwing knife. With a quick flick of the wrist, the girl shot off the knife straight at the head whose meal she had just stolen away and which was now glaring at her in anger.

The blue knife struck the head in the eye, causing it to scream out in pain and wave about, knocking into its brother/sister heads, distracting all of them.

"I suggest you all back up." The girl said, throwing out more chains, grabbing onto the defending Spirit Masters and pulling them back. "This is probably going to be messy."

Rong Rong didn't understand. Was the child planning on fighting the monster herself?

Before she could even contemplate this possibility, a second blur came down, this one directly above the monster. It was a mass of black flames. " **Getsuga Tenshou!** "

The fire smashed into the back of the monster and split into a line, cutting across its back. The beast hardly had time to cry out in surprise as the wave of power seeped into its body before bisecting it.

Blood poured out of the creature, flying everywhere as the leftover power hit the ground with the sound of cracking thunder, throwing up dust. Drops of blood rained down from the sky for a few seconds as the dust slowly cleared to show a boy standing on top of the monster's corpse.

He didn't look too much older than Rong Rong herself and was dressed in rather thick but loose casual clothes. He would have looked like any ordinary boy if it wasn't for his bright orange hair. However, standing there in the middle of that bloody mess, with the monster's black spirit ring starting to form around him, he looked rather intimidating.

In one hand he held a black cleaver, one even larger than he was. If Chen Yan's weapon was a work of art, this one was anything but. Not a single piece of decoration was present on its entire body, its black surface slick and deadly, with only a white cloth wrapping around the handle. That, along with a white plaster half mask that covered his face gave him the look of a demon. As he turned towards them, they could all see black and yellow eyes through his mask's holes.

However, as he started to walk towards them, the mask disappeared and the white cloth moved around the surface of the blade, covering it as the boy shifted the blade to his back, holding it in such a way so that the tip barely didn't brush up against the ground as he walked.

He seemed to ignore all of them, walking instead over to the small girl who had dismounted from the black cat and laid the injured Lin Qi out onto the ground and was checking his arm.

The girl didn't look up as he approached, only started talking. "Ripped artery, we need to stop the bleeding or he will be dead in a few minutes." She said quickly. Her hands were over the wound and glowing bright green. "Not only that, this monster was poisonous, and a good deal of his bones are broken."

As the boy knelt next to the girl, he pulled some of the white cloth from his sword, cutting it off and quickly bandaging the man's shoulder. "We can't tend to him here. All this noise and blood is going to attract more monsters soon enough. We need to get him somewhere safe, fast."

"The Old Bear isn't going to like this." The girl said.

"He'll deal with it. Take Yoruichi and move on ahead. I'll lead this lot." The boy said, gesturing to the others in the clearing. The girl nodded and they started to pull the injured man back onto the monster cat.

"Wait, what are you doing?" One of the Spirit Kings asked as the girl climbed back onto the cat's back. The girl and the cat were off without a single word, moving quickly into the forest.

"I don't have time to answer your damn questions. That racket you made will attract other scavengers looking for an easy kill. So just shut up and follow me." The boy said, brushing the older man off. He started to walk away before stopping and looking towards the monster's dead body and the black spirit ring. "Probably going to need that."

The Seven Treasure Glass Tower Clan members were all shocked as the boy reached out a hand and called the black ring to him. Was he insane? That was a spirit monster that had been over twenty thousand years old. It would take a Spirit Emperor to absorb such a spirit, and it would take hours.

But before anyone could even think of trying to stop him, the process was already over, and he had finished absorbing the spirit ring. "Don't just stand there! Get a move on!" He shouted back at them. Hearing monster calls in the distance, they started to do as he said.

"Who... who are you?" Chen Yan asked as she hurried to Rong Rong's side, not wanting to leave her.

"Ichi Guo. Now keep moving." The boy said, not even looking back at the group.

* * *

 **The people being rescued need to just shut up and let themselves be rescued.**

 **Gu Rong is the name of the Bone Douluo, and the one I'm saying that has the Seven Hells Bone Demon that people mistake Ichigo's mask for. Though it is spelled in the comic as Gu, its really supposed to have a sort of accent of some kind, and is closer to Guo. I choose to call Ichigo Ichi Guo because it felt more right than Ichi Gu, and because I didn't want to have to use the accent every single time I write his name. He's the main character. His name comes up a lot.**

 **His given name being the same as the family name of one of the Major factions in the Seven Treasured Clan is going to cause some confusion for them.**

 **I actually like the Manhua better than the light novel, because I feel like the characters have more personality. Yes it is a lot of tongue in cheek humor but it is actually pretty funny at times, and people's actions are more in tone with who they are with and how they think rather than simply their station in life.**


	15. Chapter 15

The march was awkward. Even the scared children didn't make much noise, not wanting to attract the attention of the young boy who had split a dragon in two with a single hit as he lead them through the forest in a rather odd manner.

It wasn't that they were afraid of him, it was that they simply didn't know what to make of him. Everything about him seemed unreal, from his appearance, to his power, to his mere presence. Eventually Rong Rong got sick of the silence and pushed herself to catch up to him at the head of their little group. Wanting to stick by her mistress's side, Chen Yan followed quickly after.

"Hey, um... Thanks for helping us out earlier." Rong Rong said, trying to start up a conversation.

"No problem." The boy replied, sounding rather disinterested. He didn't even bother to turn his head in her direction as he talked.

Rong Rong scowled at the back of his head. She didn't like being ignored, and while he wasn't exactly ignoring her, he wasn't giving her too much attention. "So who are you exactly?"

"Ichi Guo." He said again, but didn't say anything else.

"That doesn't exactly explain who you are." Rong Rong pointed out.

"What, do you want my life story? It's not like I know who the hell any of you are." Ichi Guo said, giving the girl a glance. Seeing the angry look on her face he sighed. "Ask a more specific question."

"Alright then... how old are you?" Rong Rong asked.

"Eleven." Ichi Guo said simply.

"Really? I'm ten, and Chen Yan here is twelve." Rong Rong said, Ichi Guo didn't respond any more than a nod that showed that he had heard. "What are you doing in this forest?"

"Not really any of your business." Ichi Guo replied.

Chen Yan scowled at the response. She didn't care if he had helped them, he was being an ass. "You should show some more respect to Lady Rong Rong. You are part of the Seven Hells Clan, aren't you? I saw your bone mask real guard. So you should be grateful that the heiress of the Seven Treasure Glass Tower is even talking to you."

"Sorry, but you got it wrong. I'm not part of any clan." Ichi Guo said. "Nor have I ever heard of your clan, so sorry if I'm not impressed."

"What? You've never heard of the Seven Treasure Glass Tower? It's the second most powerful family in the Empire, right after the Imperial family." Chen Yan said in complete disbelief.

"I stay away from politics and other power games. None of it interests me." Ichi Guo said glancing at Rong Rong. "But if you are the heiress to such an important family, then what the hell are you doing out here? Couldn't you just have someone else bring you a spirit monster if you needed the ring so badly?"

Rong Rong glared at Ichi Guo. She tried to meet his eyes so that he could see just how angry that last comment had made her, but as she looked into his calm golden eyes she got an uneasy feeling and had to look away. They just had an old look to them. Even though he was only a year older than her, his eyes said otherwise.

"I was told to just stay home, but I convinced my father that I needed to go. If I'm going to be a real Spirit Master, I can't just sit back and let everyone else do my work for me." She said heatedly. "How am I supposed to someday support my team if I can't be relied upon."

"Hm... Alright. I can respect that." He said giving her a nod of genuine approval. The gesture surprised Rong Rong even more. "If you had felt that way and just sat on your hands anyways, then you would be an obnoxious brat as far as I am concerned. But if you go through with your ideals, even when people tell you not to, then that shows real conviction."

Rong Rong looked down, feeling her face heat up. "I don't care about your approval." She hadn't expected him to say anything like that. She had expected him to just dismiss her as a spoiled child. Nearly everyone saw her as the only daughter of a powerful clan and a genius. She knew that they said she was arrogant and cold behind her back.

"I came into the forest to deliver some medicine to an old man who lives here. I'm taking you all with me to his home. He's a bit hard to get along with, but I don't think he'll turn you away right now. My sister took that injured friend of yours ahead. She will do what she can until we get there." Ichi Guo informed them. The two girls blinked at him as Ichi Guo started to open up a little.

"Is... he going to be alright?" Chen Yan asked, feeling guilty. Lin Qi had been injured trying to protect her. If she had just stayed back, then maybe he wouldn't have been hurt before this weird kid showed up.

"Not sure." Ichi Guo admitted. He saw the girl flinch and seem to crumple up. Rong Rong moved to Chen Yan's side to try to comfort her. "Sorry... I've absorbed the monster's spirit ring, giving me an understanding of how to make an antidote for the poison. The only question will be whether or not I can find the right materials fast enough."

"Is there anything we can do to help?" Rong Rong asked. The man had been a member of her party, as a support class Spirit Master, she had to help him.

"You can help out once we get there. Until then, just keep moving. We got another twenty minutes or so at this snail's pace and the sooner we get to shelter the better." Ichi Guo said. "You all picked a really shitty time to come out here looking for spirit rings. It's dragon mating season."

"W...what!?" One of the spirit masters who had been listening in gulped. "Dragon mating season!?"

"That's right. Anyone from the villages bordering this place could have told you that. It's one month every forty four years. Male dragons come out of their caves and spread all over the forest trying to claim as much territory as possible and mate with the females. You people just happened to be unlucky enough to come by right in the middle of it. And now that some of you are covered in that last dragon's blood, any dragon that gets a sniff of it will go into a frenzy, thinking there's an injured rival around." Ichi Guo said, the casualness in the way he was talking about it made the kids even more scared. "Just be glad you didn't run into a more powerful dragon. There's definitely at least one ten thousand year Blue Green River Dragon in this forest. If you had ran into that you'd all be dead."

Chen Yan's eyes widened. Her grandfather had fought against a Blue Green River Dragon in order to obtain his ninth and final spirit ring and become a Titled Douluo. They were considered to be one of the five king races among the dragons breeds. A hundred year old Blue Green River Dragon was considered to be as powerful as a normal ten thousand year monster. Even though Chen Xin had hunted it with his own father, a rank seventy nine Seven Treasure Glass Tower and a second Titled Douluo, Guo Rong, they had barely managed to beat it. Her grandfather had forbidden her from ever even considering hunting one.

"If it's so dangerous, then what are you doing here?" Rong Rong said, raising her voice a little in panic. "Wait, didn't you say someone actually lived out here?"

"It doesn't bother me. My sister and I can sense monsters from a great distance away and we can move a lot faster than you can. We simply avoid conflict." Ichi Guo explained. "And no one bothers the old bear. He's been out here for so long he's practically part of the landscape."

"A sixth sense, you've actually managed to master the sixth sense?" Chen Yan asked incredulously, realizing why they hadn't been traveling in a straight line. "Impossible. You're only eleven."

"There's no such thing as impossible. Only unlikely." Ichi Guo said. "Though I won't personally say that I've mastered it. I've got a lot of skills that I really have no business knowing. Suppose you could say the normal bounds of logic don't really seem to apply to me."

Rong Rong then asked the question that had been on everyone's minds. "Ichi Guo... just what rank are you?"

The orange haired boy was quiet for a few seconds, as if pondering whether or not he should answer. "Thirty two."

The air was still. Rank thirty two, at the age of eleven was unbelievable. Rong Rong was considered to be the greatest genius her family had seen in over five hundred years, and she had only just reached rank twenty at the age of ten. Yet, to be able to do the things they had seen him do, it seemed as though he should have been higher still.

Who exactly was this boy?

* * *

Ichi Guo was starting to form an opinion about these people. That wasn't good.

Cool headed and apathetic as he normally was towards people he didn't know, he formed attachments way too quickly. After he started to see people as more than just individuals he was happening to pass on the road, he started to care about them. The world was a whole lot easier when you simply didn't give a shit. Giving a shit usually landed one in trouble somewhere down the line. Especially when it managed to get you mixed up in politics or in the machination of a mad man who was trying to become a god.

This girl, Ning Rong Rong, she had some spunk to her. She was stubborn and her stubbornness caused her to make bad chooses. She lacked life experience that would help her reason through things. But stubbornness wasn't a bad thing. Not as far as Ichi Guo was concerned. It would help drive the girl, and stop her from becoming the kind of person who just accepts the evil of the world and turns a blind eye. She had the potential to not only be a strong person, but also a good person. As long as she became more worldly.

That said, the level of common sense she was lacking was downright unbelievable. While her yellow dress with a white underdress and matching belt was all very pretty, it was way too hot and heavy for the forest and running around in platform shoes was just asking for trouble. Did she simply not own any outdoor clothes?

Her shoulder length pink hair had been brushed and Ichi Guo could smell her shampoo from more than arm's length away. Taking such care of her appearance when they were going to be hiking in a monster filled forest? She even had bells in her hair. What kind of idiot did that?.. Ok, Zaraki was different...

Her spiritual energy was calm and controlled, it had a bit of a warm feel to it. The girl had talent when it came to controlling her spiritual energy. Maybe more talent than Ichi Guo himself in that department. She seemed to be a fresh rank twenty, which fit with the fact that she was out searching for a spirit ring in the first place. Either she was very talented, she had a good teacher, or maybe a bit of both. Ichi Guo was guessing the first one though. If anyone in the band he had saved was her teacher, then she didn't have a very good one.

While they seemed to have some teamwork skills, their individual skills were severally lacking. Ichi Guo was pretty confident that if he went up against the lot of them with his bare hands, he would beat them with ease. Unless her real teacher wasn't in the group. They wouldn't have too much trouble with your average monster, but anything strong or cunning was out of their league. Nothing more than rookies to the reincarnated reaper. None of them had the same level of control as Rong Rong did, so it was unlikely any of them were her teacher.

Chen Yan had a bit of the loyal dog vibe going for her. Something that Ichi Guo could do without. Loyalty was one thing. Following around blindly was another. Some of the worst crimes ever committed were done in the name of loyalty.

Her spirit was a lot sharper and rougher than Rong Rong's, much closer to Ichi Guo's own pattern. However the way she walked about told him everything he needed to know about her. She wasn't a fighter, not yet. She was young and inexperienced in heavy combat. Talented as she was in spirit control, she would need to improve her combat skills.

Her clothing wasn't much better than Rong Rong's for tracking, being heavy white materials in some kind of half traditional design, but at least it covered everything that needed to be covered without restricting the legs too much. Actually, most of the people in this group seemed to be wearing some kind of white. Perhaps it was a clan thing. Didn't really matter too much in the end.

What did matter is that these people were so slow. With so many complete rookies in their party, they didn't have a mastery of higher movement skills, so they had to actually walk the distance on foot. Ichi Guo could have ran back and forth more than a dozen times in the amount of time it was taking them to get anywhere.

It wasn't until they finally did reach the Old Bear's place that Ichi Guo finally started to relax, letting out a sigh of relief as they broke through the trees into a massive clearing with a strange rock formation in the center of it, surrounded on all sides by a field of flowers. The field of jade colored flowers gave a surreal look to the entire place.

"I don't believe it. These are real Hopeful Jade Blossoms." One of the spirit masters said as he looked out over the field of flowers. "To find one of them is extremely rare, but an entire field." He bent down towards the flowers, reaching out towards them.

Ichi Guo was on him in the blink of an eye, startling the man as he grabbed onto the man's wrist with a dead iron grip. "Don't. Touch. The flowers." Ichi Guo said serious, pulling the man's hand away. "Some things are sacred. These flowers mean more to the Old Bear than our lives, so don't even think about picking one."

"What's the big deal? They are rare and beautiful, but they don't have any mystical properties, do they? Is this how he keeps all the monsters away?" Someone else said looking over the field in awe.

"It has nothing to do with any properties they have or even the way they look. The Old Bear can hardly appreciate that. They were a gift to him from someone he cared about." Ichi Guo said, pointing towards a point in middle of a particularly dense cluster of the flowers. Four grave markers stood there. "Respect the dead, or I will make you join them."

"R...right." A younger man who had been there to get his second spirit ring said with a gulp.

Ichi Guo turned away from them and started to walk along the edge of the flowers. "There is a bridge to get across the flowers. Just follow me, and stop belly aching. The sooner we get there the sooner you can get off your feet." Ichi Guo said, leading them to a stone bridge. The bridge was made completely out of earth and seemed to have simply appeared straight out of the ground rather than having been made by human hands.

"Ichi Guo, what's this... 'Old Bear' like?" Rong Rong asked him.

"He's old, loud, obnoxious, old, ungrateful, arrogant, old, retarded, and he hates people." Ichi Guo said with a sound of disgust. "But he's not the kind of guy to just turn people away, and he has a heart of gold once you get to know him."

Rong Rong was unsure what to make of this display of distaste for the man he was bringing them to. She just hoped that everything would turn out alright.

* * *

"You can all fuck off!"

"You heartless old bastard! You're really going to send them out like this!?"

"Hell yeah I am! Why the fuck did you bring this bunch of dip shits to my door anyways!? If they all die, that's just nature taking its course!"

"And if I kick your ass into the grave, would that also be nature taking its damn course!?"

"I'd like to see you try, Reaper Brat!"

The group from the Seven Treasure Clan just stood there, not sure what to do, while Ichi Guo got into a shouting match with what had to be one of the oldest looking people in the world.

His skin was wrinkled and his arms and legs were all extremely thin, but still well-muscled. His head was nearly completely bald with only a few strands of hair stuck to his liver spot covered scalp, though the rest of his face was over grown with hair, a long grey beard came down to his knees and was tangled and greasy, like he couldn't be asked to take care of it. He was covered in what appeared to be thick pelts inexpertly stitched together and his feet were bare, revealing huge yellow toenails. His teeth were all either yellow or brown, though he still seemed to have all of them. Spit came out of his mouth with every other word as his ear splitting voice tore at the ears.

Rong Rong found herself half hoping that he would just turn them away and that Ichi Guo might guide them out of the forest, around the dragons. However, there would still be the case of the injured party member to deal with. As much as being around this man made her skin crawl, she had been taught to never leave a party member for dead. Not so long as there is the slightest glimmer of hope.

Still, she couldn't help but to stare at the man's eyes. The pupils seemed to be a milky white and didn't move at all as he swung his arms around and gestured angrily. The man was completely blind.

* * *

 **I feel like they tried really hard at the beginning to make Rong Rong seem like a brat, but I couldn't really buy it.**

 **Yes she told Oscar to go fuck himself, but everyone hates on Oscar all the time, most of them assaulted him, and he was acting like a pervert towards all of the girls. You can hardly blame her for beating down what at the time appeared to be a potential obsessed stalker.**

 **She got angry with the Principal for yelling at her for not running laps around the village like she was told, but that task was a bull shit one from the beginning that was actually pointless and he had set up so that she wouldn't do it.**

 **And when she got angry and offered Tang San money and a position in her clan in exchange for helping her get revenge on Mu Bai, it was right after he assaulted her and threatened her. Her reaction was pretty justified, all things considered. If you punched me in the face and then threatened to kick my ass if I ever bothered you again, I would be thinking about payback.**

 **Yes she was a bitch at the time, but she was only being a bitch to people who were being complete assholes or perverts towards her. At all other times she was completely civil. If she had just taken it without a word I would have thought less of her.**

 **Then again, I am apparently the person who tries to feel sympathy for everyone who people don't feel any sympathy for and who isn't a cartoon villain trying to take over the world/become god (Fuck you Aizen!). Maybe it is because I don't really understand the concept of hate, other than self-hate.**

 **Hell, the person I sympathize least with in the entire story is Tang San, going off an building an army to wage war against an entire nation for revenge for killing his mother. Disrupting the peace between three world powers in order to achieve this goal. Jesus. How many lives are you going to throw away to avenge the mother you never knew? One that you find out isn't even really dead for fucks sake.**

 **When he is offered a chance to make peace, and in doing so, help unite the land and end all war forever. He basically tells them all to go fuck themselves because he wants his revenge and doesn't care what he has to do to get it. Seriously, the fuck man, for a monk you sure are single minded! All he had to do was turn a blind eye to them killing the Emperor and replacing the prince. The Dou Empire and Spirit Hall would unite and pressure Star Empire to join them as well, and everyone would have just stopped fighting.**

 **This would all probably be more of an issue if most of the people in Spirit Hall wasn't (as I've already pointed out) stupidly evil. I mean the kind of evil who refuses to have their breakfast unless they can tie down a starving child in for of them to force them to watch them savior every bite.**

 **Its not that I don't like Tang San as a character. Its just that I find it impossible to sympathize with someone who doesn't seem to care about the consequences to his actions. This is the problem I have with " Tales of Demons and Gods" (a similar kind of story), the main character is so obsessed with revenge that they actively make their lives harder in order to mess with their enemy. An enemy who would be perfectly content to ignore them if they didn't constantly go out of their way to cause trouble. Only made okay by the fact that the bad guys are evil beyond all reasoning. **


	16. Chapter 16

"Don't y'all touch anything. It's bad enough having you in my cave. I don't want your stink everywhere." The Old Bear said as he finally let them into his cave-like home. Ichi Guo had to give the extremely old man a large barrel that smelled strongly of honey before he had grudgingly agreed to let them enter. "Gods, that smell. Make sure you wash the dragons blood off of y'all. It smells so rancid I think I'll puke."

"Amazing you can smell anything over that greased up filth... oh wait, that's your face." Ichi Guo said, having more blood on him than any of the others. "I have to see to the bite victim first. I don't have time to take a bath. I'm also going to need some of your herbs."

"Oh, not only are you using my home and my bed, now you want my herbs too?" The Old Bear grunted.

"Don't act like I ain't ever done anything for you." Ichi Guo growled back.

Rong Rong stumbled in the darkness. She wouldn't exactly call the Old Bear's home a cave, but it was a massive underground area shaped out of the earth. It was cool and large, but after walking for just a minute there was absolutely no light at all. Not that it seemed to matter to the Old Bear or Ichi Guo.

One of the kids bumped into something in the dark and that something fell over onto the floor with a loud thud. "Watch where you're going you dumb brat! What are you, blind!?" The Old Bear shouted angrily.

"You're the blind one, dumbass. It's pitch black in here. How do you expect them to see?" Ichi Guo said with a snort.

The Old Bear let out a sound close to the growl of a wild animal. "Only an idiot depends on their eyes." He snapped back.

A wind picked up in the cave followed by a flash of light that forced all of the spirit master's to cover their eyes. Once their eyes got more accustomed to the sudden light, they all stared in disbelief at the eight large spirit rings that floated in the air around the grumpy old man. He was a Spirit DouLuo, one who had exceeded the rank eighty mark. There were only a few thousand individuals alive in the entire world to reach such a rank. What was one doing in a cave in the middle of the forest? "There, is that better?"

"You could have just lit a damn torch, no need to show off." Ichi Guo said, rolling his eyes.

"I am not going to have smoke in my cave! What do you think I am, a stinking dragon!?" The Old Bear shouted.

"No, I think you're a grumpy old bear!" Ichi Guo shouted back before looking at the travelers. "My little sis will have some spirit stones you can use for light. So don't worry, you aren't going to have to stick to the bear just to see."

The cave was absolutely massive, seeming to go on forever. For a man who clearly didn't care about his living conditions and probably didn't have many friends over, he sure had a large living space. What did he even need all that room for?

Rong Rong looked down into one of the side passages when she heard some shifting noised down it to see a large furred creature slipping into the shadows out of sight. After that, she decided it was best to stick closer to Ichi Guo and the Old Bear.

She tried to ask the Old Bear what his real name was, but only got told to 'mind your own damn business, Princess!' After that he started a rant about how in his day the Seven Treasures Glass Tower didn't let their kids run around causing trouble for decent folks. Leading to another shouting match between him and Ichi Guo about whether or not the Old Bear counted as a 'decent' person.

Ichi Guo had been right about the Old Bear, he was a completely unlikable person. Then again, Ichi Guo himself wasn't exactly a paragon of social skills. Perhaps that was why they got along as well... or as poorly as they did. At least Ichi Guo was kind of cute.

The room wasn't what anyone would call pleasant on the eyes, but that hardly seemed to matter for the owner. The bed was a misshapen mass of stitched together hides of various animals with a blanket made of soft furs that still had bits of membrane attached to them from inexpert cleaning. The furniture in the room was all entirely made of stone, like almost everything in the entire cave, and the walls and ceiling may have been flattened, but the coloration was weird and not at all pretty, though it is doubtful that the owner was even aware of this.

The small girl from before was standing by the bed, her hands glowing with a steady green light as she held them to the man's bite wound. "It's about time you got here. You couldn't have gotten your rush on a bit? I'm slowing his blood flow to stop the spread of the venom but that only delays the problem."

"Sorry Rukia. Old Bear was being an ass again." Ichi Guo said, walking up to his sister and taking her place, his hands beginning to glow the same green as hers had. It was a healing ability. The boy had a healing ability?

"As I said, bite me." The Old Bear growled.

"I absorbed the spirit ring, so I know how to treat the poison, but I'm going to need some things." Ichi Guo said, ignoring the Spirit Douluo's comment.

"Just tell me. I know my store room better than the girly anyways." The Old Bear said sticking a finger in his ear and pulling out a small clump of earwax before eating it. Rong Rong had to supress a shiver at the sight. "Just take all of these filth covered humans to get cleaned up. I'm tired of all their stink."

"So you do want to be helpful." Ichi Guo said with a smirk.

"I want him out of my bed!" The Old Bear shouted before Ichi Guo started listing off ingredients that would be needed to make an antidote, every few words exchanging insults with the old man.

Rukia got out some spirit stones out of a spirit artifact pendant and handed them out to the others. With just a little bit of spirit power, the stones glowed with a soft blue light that helped a lot with the darkness of the cave.

"Come with me. The Old Bear has an underground hot springs a little deeper in. It is a little hotter than I would prefer, but it isn't scolding." Rukia said as she walked through the cave in front of the group. The large black cat spirit monster seemed to materialize out of the shadows to follow the girl's heels, startling the group who couldn't sense the creature's presence. "Us girls will bathe first, if any of you idiots are caught peeking, you will be fed to Yoruichi for dinner, got it?" Rukia said, glaring up at the men who all nodded in earnest. It was less out of fear of the cat than out of fear of the girl's brother and the 'Old Bear'.

Rong Rong didn't react at all. She could hardly tell what was going around her as all her focus was being consumed by something she was sensing from that little girl. She had thought she had felt something strange about her before, but she had chalked that up to panic. Now she no longer had any doubts.

The Seven Treasures Glass Tower was considered to be the most powerful gem type spirit essence in existence. As such it was able to sense other stones and determine just how valuable they were. It was this special ability that had gained the clan its immeasurable wealth.

From this small black haired girl, Rong Rong sensed a jewel like no other. Something that could not be compared to anything else on Earth. A stone that had somehow escaped the vault of heaven. A godly treasure.

Rong Rong tried to figure out where the feeling was coming from, but it seemed to emanate from the little girl's entire being, the same way it would have if it was her spirit essence. But that couldn't be right. Rong Rong had seen the girl's spirit. It was that long black chain.

The Ning family princess smiled and moved up next to the girl. "Hey. I'm Ning Rong Rong. It's nice to meet you." She said in her normal cheerful manner.

The black haired girl looked slightly taken aback by the girl's sudden outgoing nature. "Um... I'm Rukia. Nice to meet you too... I guess." Rukia responded, looking the pink haired heiress up and down.

"Thanks for helping us out. I don't know where we would be without you and Ichi Guo."

"You'd probably be in a dragon's stomach." Rukia said with a shrug, causing Rong Rong to twitch.

"Well, maybe." Rong Rong said, laughing weakly before cheering up. "No matter what, I'm still grateful for your help. How about we be friends? I'm sure we would get along really well."

"Uh... yeah." Rukia said, sounding a bit unsure of herself.

"...You're not much of a conversationalist, are you?"

"I suppose not. The only people I really talk to are Ichi-nii and the Old Bear, and in case you haven't noticed, they don't have the greatest social skills." Rukia said with a shrug before patting Yoruichi's head, causing the cat to purr. "Even Yoruichi here has better communication skills than those two."

"Ichi-nii? I thought his name was Guo?"

"It is. Nii is a term from another language that means brother."

"Hm... I've never heard of that before." Rong Rong mumbled tapping her chin. The Heavenly Dou Empire and the neighboring nations all shared the same common language, but a few of the subjugated people might have kept their old ways, or mixed things in. "I think your brother said that you two didn't live in the forest like... the Old Bear. So why don't you talk to any of the people back where you live?"

"No one talks to us back there. Not unless someone gets injured or sick and they need a healer, or if a monster or bandit is attacking. Otherwise they avoid us like the plague." Rukia admitted. "People don't really like having Yoruichi around, and most commoners hate Spirit Masters in general."

"They do!?" Chen Yan said in surprise, again forgetting that she wasn't a part of the conversation. She blushed as the other two girls looked at her. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to eavesdrop. I'm Chen Yan, It's nice to meet you. But, what was that you were saying about the commoners hating Spirit Masters?"

"It isn't like all of them do, it's mostly those in rural areas, but for those who do, it isn't hard to tell why. It's the Spirit Masters' allowance. Each Spirit Master who reaches a decent rank is given enough money to feed an entire village on. Where do you think that money comes from?" Rukia asked rhetorically. "Spirit Masters make up one percent of the population, and everyone else is taxed into the ground just so that the Empire can deal with them. Hardly any of the farmers own the land they sit on. Ichi-nii says that most of them are in so much debt because of the high taxes that they don't even own their own lives and are basically slaves. Some really are sold into slavery when they want to move the population around a bit, breaking apart families and friends."

"I... I never knew." Rong Rong said, covering her mouth in shock. Her father had talked about helping people who were enslaved return to their homes. She understood how bad slavery was, but she never really thought too much about what caused them to become enslaved in the first place. Did people really hate Spirit Masters?

"It's not just that. If a Spirit Master walks into your village and starts making trouble, there isn't anything that a normal person can do about it. They can steal, bully and rape all they want, and no one will stop them. Not unless another more powerful Spirit Master happens to be in the area and bothers to help."

"No Spirit Master would do such a thing!" Chen Yan objected.

"It happens all the time." Rukia said, sounding a bit sad about it. "Face it, in this world, power is everything. Just be glad you weren't born weak." She stopped outside of one of the arched doorways where steam was coming out. "Come on, we'll clean ourselves up, then I'll show everyone where they will be sleeping. The Old Bear might not get many guests, but he still has over a hundred rooms to put people in. Digging this place out is kind of his hobby, so try not to get lost."

* * *

Ichi Guo sat underneath the starry sky leaned up against the wall outside the cave with a guitar, plucking the notes to a song that he remembered from his old life. He must have seen Chad play that song a hundred times. Ichi Guo might not have been much of a genius in his own books, but he was good at memorizing things and picking them up by watching other do it. He had learned how to play by watching Chad practice. So while he couldn't read music, he was able to play those few songs. After playing them long enough, he picked them apart and made his own songs. Never made any lyrics though. He wasn't much of a singer.

After making sure the injured man would be alright, he cleaned himself up before returning to the surface for some fresh air. The Old Bear joined him, bringing along the keg that Ichi Guo had delivered to him earlier that day. He had poured himself a mug full of the stuff and was sipping from it with a thoughtful expression on his face. The smell of honey coming off the thing was completely overwhelming.

"Ah, honeyed rum. Nothing beats it." The Old Bear said with a sad smile. "So good, I can hardly taste the poison you put in it."

"How many times do I have to tell you. It's medicine. Not poison." Ichi Guo said, rolling his eyes at the old man.

The Old Bear scoffed. "You act like there is a difference."

"The stuff isn't strong enough to hurt you. It's meant to kill the weakened cancer cells. If you don't keep taking it you'll get another tumor, and next time I might not be able to remove it." Ichi Guo snapped at the man.

"If it happens it happens." The Old Bear said, closing his blind eyes. "I'll be dying sooner or later. Even if becoming a Titled DouLuo would cure me, I doubt I'll make it. If it isn't this cancer stuff, it will be something else."

Ichi Guo's fingers stopped strumming the guitar. "...Don't talk like that. You old bastard."

The Old Bear started to chuckle until the laughter turned into struggled coughing. "Funny, for one of Yama's dogs you sure are squeamish about death."

"I never worked for Old Man Yamamoto. Me and that bearded asshole never really got along. Pretty sure if I died he would try to kick me out of the afterlife a second time just so he wouldn't have to put up with me." Ichi Guo joked though his face was still flat. He didn't hide what he was with the Old Bear. There was no point. Neither of them was what they appeared to be, and they both could tell exactly what the other was. Ichi Guo didn't call the Old Bear an old bear for no reason.

"Hmph, I understand the sentiment." The Old Bear said with a cheeky grin that showed some of his yellowed teeth, then, feeling how upset Ichi Guo still was, he gave a sigh. "I'm over three hundred thousand years old, even Yama isn't as old as I am. If I live for another day or another hundred years, it won't make much of a difference. My dream was the naive and impossible dream of a fool. Something that not even the gods could achieve and had more sense than to try. I was too stupid to realize it until I already gave up my longevity for the attempt. Better to just pass on and hope that the heavens are kind enough to let me see her in the next life." He said, looking with dead eyes across the graveyard to one of the old graves that lay within the valley of flowers.

Ichi Guo pressed his mouth into a hard line, not trusting himself to talk. He didn't want to ruin the man's last hope. He didn't want to tell him just how miserable a place the afterlife was. How he would probably never see his cherished daughter again. He just sat there as the old monster-turned-human reminisced.

"My little Mi Li, she was such a sweet child. Those short years I watched over her were the most beautiful of all my millenniums." The Old Bear mumbled, tears coming to his blank eyes. "War is such a horrible thing. Why do humans create kingdoms, when they only seem to cause wars? What is a king to a child anyways?"

The man started to reach for the keg to refill his cup, but Ichi Guo reached out a hand to stop him. "You've had enough. Too much of this stuff is bad for you, remember?"

The Old Bear started to laugh. "So you admit its poison." Ichi Guo only sighed and let the old man laugh. He leaned back, trying to remember a happier tone he had once heard in his last life.

So the two unusual individual sat through the night, the reincarnated substitute death god and three hundred thousand year old Earthen Bear Demon turned human.

* * *

 **Fucking 1%.**

 **Sorry if things seem weird here. That tends to happen when you put aside a story for a while then come back.**

 **The Old Bear's full background story isn't going to be revealed until he is giving Ichi Guo his spirit ring. So don't expect that to happen, since I probably won't get that far in my writing.**

 **One of the things that I don't like in the Soul Land story is that it isn't ever explained why Xiao Wu chose to be reborn as a human. What was her motivation? What did she hope to accomplish with it? And don't tell me it is for power, or immortality. The hundred thousand year old spirit beasts live longer than anyone could reasonably want to live and they are stupidly powerful already.**

 **So I'm making sure that the Old Bear has a reason why he chose to become human. Followed by the epiphany where he realizes that he can't achieve his goals because reality just won't allow it, beating him down into the miserable man you see here.**


	17. Chapter 17

Ning Rong Rong felt like her joints had turned to stone. As it turned out while the Old Bear had plenty of rooms, he didn't actually pay too much attention to furniture. Rather than having beds, there were large mounds of moulted furs and reptile skins. The stuff wasn't clean, was crawling with bugs. So, while it was better than the stone floor, it wasn't the kind of thing that helped one after a long day's march through a temperate forest.

Breakfast was made up of some of the rations that the group had brought with them in the cause of an emergency. It tasted like dry rice mixed with wallpaper paste, but it fulfilled its purpose so the young lady wasn't about to complain. Even if she would normally throw a fit about such conditions, she wouldn't now. Even if most of the other children, who were older than her by an average of six years, were whimpering and crying, she wouldn't. A good support doesn't complain in a bad situation, they support. She needed to help keep moral up, not drag it down. Her father wouldn't have complained one bit, so she wouldn't either.

Even if her father never claimed the title of the best support class Spirit Master in the world, he was. Everyone knew it. He had the best skills, the most powerful spirit abilities, the greatest intelligence, and maybe the most important thing of all for a support to have, he had the strongest teammates.

Rong Rong couldn't help but look at Ichi Guo and Xiao Ru (Rukia) and think that they would someday be seen as the best of the generation. Ichi Guo was already in the realm of the Spirit Elders and was capable of killing ten thousand year old spirit beast by himself, even though he was only eleven. Not to mention how his ability to take in spirit rings seemed to defy the normal limits.

His sister was rank eighteen, when she was barely nine years old, and had a hidden gem based power that made Rong Rong's spine tingle. Rong Rong had no idea how strong the little girl was, but from what she had learned from talking to ber, Xiao Ru had been trained by her brother to use several different self-made skills, that is to say, skills that didn't depend on a spirit ring.

The two siblings had more raw talent than anyone in Seven Treasures Clan, even more than she herself had, and they were simply flouting free, unconnected to any clan. If she wanted to be the best support and follow in her father's foot steps, she would need to be partnered up with people like them.

She would ask her father to bring them into the clan. Surely he would be willing to give the offer, especially after they had helped the clan so much during this mess. He probably would have offered them something of the sort even if they hadn't been as talented as they were.

If they accepted, then she would someday have the best young team her clan had ever seen. One that might someday even surprise her father alongside her two uncles. Even if Ichi Guo and Xiao Ru's social skills left something to be wanted, she could help iron that out. And even if that turned out to be an impossible task, dealing with it would be a small price to pay to have that kind of power.

Rong Rong had decided, if possible, she would make those two part of her future team. The only question was whether or not they would join her.

No, they had to join her. She would give them whatever she needed to in order to insure that they would join her clan and be a part of her future team.

The Old Bear saw them all out, telling them to 'never come back' and to 'go fuck yourselves'. After leaving the bad tempered Spirit DouLuo's lair, the party seemed to cheer up quick a bit. The older members of the clan started trying to take charge again, setting up scouting schedules and talking about tracking down the last few spirit halos the group needed.

They were quickly put back in their place by Ichi Guo, as the eleven year old boy explain to them how stupid their ideas were and how they should all just shut up and follow him and his sister as they led them out of the forest.

Completely humiliated, but seeing the lack of reason involved in scouting when the siblings could sense any nearby presence, and the dangers involved in fighting spirit beasts that could attract the attention of another dragon, the elders just sunk their heads and preceeded to follow the two children.

The pace they set wasn't horribly slow, but it wasn't as fast as some people would like. With a still injured Lin Qi requiring a stretcher, they couldn't move quickly. They were just glad that his life wasn't in any danger any more. Whatever Ichi Guo and the Old Bear had given to him, it did the trick with combating the poison.

Several times while they were walking, Ichi Guo would split away from the party for a few minutes before coming back again. During one of these times, Chen Yan moved forward to talk to Rukia. "Where does your brother keep running off to?" She asked the little girl.

"No where really. He's just using himself as bait to lure away spirit monsters that are blocking our path." Rukia explained, seeming completely unconcerned by it.

"Isn't that dangerous?" Chen Yan said, giving a small frown. Every spirit master was told to always go in groups when dealing with Spirit Beasts, to avoid being taken by surprise.

"Hmph, like of these things could actually catch Ichi-nii." Rukia scoffed. "Even if one of them was fast enough to keep up with him, he'd just kill it."

Chen Yan's mouth twitched into a smile seeing the girl's confidence in her brother. Then again, it wasn't confidence without reason. "Just how strong is Ichi Guo?" Chen Yan asked the girl.

"Hm... hard to say." Rukia said, looking up at the trees. "I've never seen anyone beat my brother in a fight. He's pretty fast and he knows a lot about fighting. Plus, with Zangetsu, he can cut through pretty much anything. There aren't that many things in this forest that could stand up to him in a fight. The Old Bear could, but that's just by throwing so much shit around with his spirit abilities that my brother can't get near him. If it was a fight without any spirit rings abilities, my brother would definitely have the advantage."

That was quite the boast, saying that the boy would be able to beat a Spirit DouLuo's in a match of raw power and skill, even if said Spirit DouLuo was a blind old man. Chen Yan was sure that it was just the boast of a nieve child who didn't know any better. Someone who was only rank 32 couldn't even stand in the presence of a Spirit DouLuo's full power, the spiritual pressure would be too much for them. There was no way that Ichi Guo could fight one... could he?

Something about Ichi Guo reminded her of her grandfather and some of the other elders of the Seven Kills Sword. Members who had surpassed rank seventy. She felt like her Seven Kills Sword spirit was trying to tell her something whenever he was nearby. It felt like a shiver of anticipation. If only she could make out its voice.

Unlike most tool type essence spirits, the Seven Kills Sword was known for having a will of its own. Elders of the clan who had reached the level in which they could produce the sword's avatar form possessed the ability to speak with their spirit in order to improve their training. The sword would tell them what they needed to do to get stronger. It was one of the advantages they held over other top tier tool type essence spirits.

"What is... Zangeto?" Chen Yan asked.

"Zangetsu. It's the name of my brother's tool type essence spirit, the one he always has on his back. He can sharpen it using his spiritual power until it can cut through spirit guards." Rukia explained, as if it was no big deal. She didn't even notice when Chen Yan stopped in her tracks.

Tool type essence spirit. That black metal sword the size of a full grown man that the boy casually cared around on his back was an essence spirit. An essence spirit with the power to cut through spirit guards. One of the skills that the Seven Kills Sword was famous for. It was the reason why all their clan members learned sword art skills on top of the normal Spirit Master training.

In a normal fight between Spirit Masters the one with the high rank will almost always win due to their spirit guard being too strong for the enemy to break through to damage them. However, the Seven Kills Sword could theoretically cut through and kill anyone regardless of rank, so long as they could get close enough. It was why most people feared the Seven Kills Sword. In a normal fight, the spirit guard protects the Spirit Master from death, leaving them only heavily injured, which made death improbably. However, in a fight against a Seven Kills Sword wielder using this skill, death isn't just possible, it is the most likely outcome.

Ichi Guo's sword was single edged, large, bulky, and not at all beautiful when compared to the Seven Kills Swords' polished crystal blades. But if you took a step back and looked at it from a purely functional stand point, it was a lot like the Seven Kills Sword. Both were long blades with no guard and the ability to gather up large quantities of spiritual power to be used to cut an enemy or shot as an energy wave. It was almost as if it was a mutated version of the Seven Kills Sword; a variant spirit. Even the way he was carrying it around while out of combat wasn't uncommon in the clan, being popularized by the pervious elder, Chen Yan's great grandfather.

No, that couldn't be right, she had seen his essence spirit, it was the Seven Hells Bone Demon... or at least, it was something a lot like it. Looking back, the coloring wasn't quite right. The Seven Hells Bone Demon's skeletal real guard was more black with only markings of red and white, while Ichi Guo's mask seemed to be the reverse of that, being white with red and black markings. Either way, it was definitely a beast type essence spirit, so the sword couldn't be an essence spirit.

Unless he had twin spirits.

It wasn't impossible, or even that unlikely. The Seven Hells Bone Demon Clan and the Seven Kills Sword Clan were both closely involved with one and other. Marriages between them weren't even uncommon. How unlikely was it that a loose descendent could have been born with both spirits present in a mutated form? Twin spirits was already a form of mutation that allowed for both spirits to be present at the same time, such things often caused the essence of one to leak into the other.

But then, why didn't his sister have either spirit and instead possess chains? Maybe they weren't really related. It would explain how come they look so different and how their names didn't match. Actually, both of them had very strange names.

"Sister Yan, is something the matter?" Rong Rong asked, seeing how Chen Yan froze up.

"N...no. It's nothing." Chen Yan said before pushing herself forward to catch up to Rukia. Rong Rong raised an eyebrow and joined her. "Xiao Ru, could I ask you something?"

"I never understood, is it a rhetorical question when people ask that, or are they serous? How am I supposed to know if the question is alright before I have heard the question?" Rukia said, tilting her head. She didn't know if she liked them calling her Xiao Ru or not. On one hand it was the first nickname given to her by other girls and people near to her own age, but on the other hand it felt really childish pet name.

"I was just wondering who you and Ichi Guo's parents are?" Chen Yan asked. Rukia's face immediately soured. "I... I'm sorry. I didn't realize it was..."

"Our mother was a useless whore and 'my' father was a drunk coward." Rukia said. "My brother and I have been living on our own for the last four years."

"I didn't know it was a touchy subject." Chen Yan said, wincing at Rukia's reaction to her innocent question. Rong Rong also covered her mouth to stop herself from gasping at the things Rukia had said about her parents.

"It's not a touchy subject, I just hated my parents. It's not like it's secret." Rukia said, quickly denying that she felt any conflictions about her parents. "Why did you ask anyways?"

"I... just wanted to know if it was possible for Ichi Guo's parents to have been related to the Seven Treasure Clan's sect in some way." Chen Yan admitted, feeling like it hardly mattered anymore. "Your brother's spirits bare some resemblance to those of two of the sect's key families. So... I was just wondering if it was possible."

"I don't know." Rukia said with a shrug. "My brother and I are half siblings. No one knew who my brother's father was. Our mother was a whore, so it could have been any number of men who passed through the village. He never seemed to care about who did the deed."

The two higher class ladies shifted uncomfortably, not really sure what to say. Chen Yan regretted ever bringing the subject up. What would it have mattered if Ichi Guo had really been related to her in some way. They had their own lives, lives that had nothing to do with her clan and were none of her business.

Ichi Guo returned soon after, making things even more awkward. Chen Yan kept trying to sneak glances at him while he wasn't looking. Even if she felt guilty about digging up bad memories for Xiao Ru, she couldn't help but try to see the things that the boy might have inherited from a Seven Kills Sword father. The only thing stuck out was his sharp golden eyes. Eyes that were so much like her grandfather's, maybe even more like his than even Chen Yan's own. It wasn't just the color. There was some property that she couldn't name that was held in those eyes.

The forest was starting to become less dense and Ichi Guo's excursions away from the group were becoming fewer and shorter. However, the sun was already getting low and shadows growing long, making the Spirit Masters anxious about having to sleep outside through out the night, exposed to the creatures of the forest.

"Ichi-nii. We should probably look for somewhere to set up camp for the night." Rukia said, glancing over at her brother.

"Yeah. I was hoping we would be able to get out of here before night fall, but I guess it can't be helped." Ichi Guo said with a sigh, looking back over the group. "Alright everyone, we're going to be..."

Ichi Guo stopped mid sentence, pulled the giant sword off his back and spun around, shifting quickly into a stance. Rukia summoned up her chains and stared in the same direction as the boy while Yoruichi started to let out a low growl, the hairs on her back rising.

At first the members of the Seven Treasures Clan were all frightened, believing that a monster was moving quickly towards them. But then they all started to notices something, a small black fluid flouting in the air, quickly growing larger. It spun like a whirlpool, flattening out until it was as wide as a full grown man but as thick as a coin. Then, out of the black goo came the head of a man.

The man looked around at them and a large smile spread over his face. "Found them!"

His entire body erupted from the pool as he stood on it, suspended sideways in the air, as if gravity didn't mean anything to him.

Within the blink of an eye, the edge of Ichi Guo's blade was resting at the man's neck. "Who the hell are you?" Ichi Guo growled, planting his feet and preparing for a fight. His sixth sense was going out of control.

The man turned his head in Ichi Guo's direction, though his eyes remained closed. Rather than being concerned about the blade at his neck, he looked pleasantly surprise. His over all expression coupled with the way that the man was standing sideways in midair reminded Ichi Guo of Gin, and considering how unpredictable that man was, it wasn't a good sign. While Gin hadn't really been the villain they all thought he was, he was still a guy you didn't want to meet in a dark forest close to night.

The man had short well kept black hair held up with a bronze circlet and an extremely pale complexion. His black robes with bronze metal platings shrouded his entire body save for his hands which were covered in bronze claws made to look like a skeleton's fingers with strange rings. "Oh my, how many years has it been since someone has pointed a blade at my throat." The man said with a chuckle, lifting up one hand and grabbed the end of Zangetsu, slowly pushing it back.

Ichi Guo struggled to maintain his stance, but the man was simply too strong. He was being pushed back, the dirt behind his feet giving way as he tried to keep his footing, and this guy wasn't even trying.

The man's face kept the pleasant expression as he looked from Ichi Guo to where the sword's edge met his metal covered fingers. His smile seemed to widen even more as he saw the metal of his claw being cut by the blade, a small drop of blood coming from a thin cut across his palm. "Well aren't you a treat." He said, looking down at Ichi Guo, his eyes cracking open slightly to show dark red eyes.

"Uncle Guo!" Ning Rong Rong cried out, getting both the man and Ichi Guo's attention.

"Xiao Rong Rong!" The man cheered, moving fast enough to rip the air as he disengaged from Ichi Guo and flew across the clearing to the small girl before immediately pulling her up off the ground in a hug. "Oh! We were so worried when you didn't come back! You should have seen how your father and I threated over you Xiao Rong Rong!"

"Uncle! Let me down! Let me down right now or I'll get angry!" Rong Rong said as she struggled in vain to get out of the black haired man's grip even as her companions dropped to their knees before the man in a show of respect, or possibly fear. The empty threat from the tiny girl seemed comical in the wake of the insane power flowing from the man.

"Not a chance, I'm never letting go of you again!" The man cried, pressing his cheek to the girl's head. "I am going to stick to you like glue!"

"I know you were worried Uncle, but how do you expect our little princess to grow up if you never let her stand on her own?" Said another man who walked out from the dark portal.

This person didn't radiate as much power as the first man did, but he still caught Ichi Guo off guard all the same. It was mostly because of his appearance. The man looked almost exactly like Uryu, that is, if the Quincy had taken up pimping as a profession, and if the tight ass ever gave an honest smile.

His wore a white suit with a purple undershirt and tie that matched his thin body and added to the rich, high class look. His face was framed by the bangs from his short raven hair and a pair of glasses. With his smiling face, he looked like a man who was in control of everything. The kind of man that people would flock around because of his boundless charisma. However, the large white overcoat draped over his shoulders, with purple gem buttons and white fur trim, as well as the cane sporting a purple stone the size of young Ichi Guo's whole fist, made the man look like a pimp.

Ichi Guo was having a hard time deciding whether a pimp Uryu was disturbing or funny.

"Papa!" Rong Rong shouted as she was finally freed from the Black-Haired-Gin's death hug, only for her to run straight at Pimp-Uryu and throw her arms around him in a hug. Somewhere in the back of Ichi Guo's mind, he had to dismiss the thought of whether this was really Rong Rong's father, or her pimp daddy. Though there was zero family resemblance, he was defiantly her real father, that fact became clear almost immediately.

Rong Rong's built up stress was released and she started to cry into her father's chest. The man adopted a sad face as he gently pat his daughter's back. "What wrong Rong Rong? Are you alright?"

"...Rong Rong is alright papa... She wasn't scared at all... No, Rong Rong was brave, like papa." The little noble girl said between sniffles. She switched to talking in the third person, which was considered a very child like manner, one fitting of a ten year old girl who had nearly lost her life and been forced by circumstance to blindly rely on ill-tempered and unusual strangers like Ichi Guo and the Old Bear. She had hid it well up to this point, but with safety at hand along with her father, the act fell to pieces.

Ichi Guo started to lower his sword, seeing that there was no real threat from these people, strong as they were. But his sword hand's grip became even tighter as a third presence, just as powerful as the first emerged from the black vortex.

"Grandfather!" This time it was Chen Yan shouting, though she didn't run up to hug the man who now stood in front of the group. Not that he looked like the huggie type.

He was a giant of a man, standing nearly two and a half meters tall. His long white hair reached down past his waist and his golden eyes looked out without any sign of emotion from beneath their half closed lids. His dress was a white tunic with black and gold finishings and a white and gold cape. The man had a noble air about him.

No, more than just noble. Noble was not a strong enough word. Perfection. Otherworldliness. Something as distant and untouchable as the moon. An aura that Ichi Guo found very familiar.

"Byakuya." Ichi Guo mumbled, not that anyone heard him or would have understood.

Everything from the man's half lidded eyes and disinterested fascial expressions, down to the way he held himself and his massive power reminded Ichi Guo of Captain Kuchiki. Even the white cape he wore over his shoulders seemed similar to the Captain's coat.

"Grandfather, forgive me. I failed in my duties to protect Lady Rong Rong. I have disgraced the Seven Kills Sword Clan." Yan said, bowing her head to the white haired man.

The man looked down at the girl as if he was standing on top of a tall mountain, looking down at the vast landscape below rather than a child right in front of him. "It was not your duty to protect her, but if that is the way you feel, then you only have one option; you must become stronger." The man said in a leveled tone, neither harsh nor comforting.

"Yes, grandfather!" Chen Yan said with a sharp nod. Though she did glance over at Ichi Guo as she did so. "I will train even harder, until I am strong enough."

"Xiao Yan, there is no such thing as 'strong enough'. Someday you understand this." The man said with only a slight shake of the head.

A few more people of little to no interest to the siblings came out of the portal, seeming to be a medical team that had been on standby. They took the injured Spirit Master away for further care while everyone else tried to get a grip on the situation.

Rukia hardly paid attention to any of it. She just watched from the corner of her eye as Rong Rong cried into her father's chest. It made the black haired orphan girl uncomfortable. "Ichi-nii..." She said, pulling on her brother's shirt to get his attention.

"Hm? What's the matter?" Ichi Guo asked her, pulling his eyes away from the white haired man.

"We're done here. Lets go." She said, putting a hand on Yoruichi's back to signal to the spirit beast that they were going to be moving.

Ichi Guo gave his sister a curious look before shrugging his shoulders. "Sure, if that's what you want." He wasn't one to ask questions that people didn't want asked. If Rukia wanted to move, then he'd follow her.

"Wait! Don't go yet!" Rong Rong shouted, seeing the small bunch starting to turn away. Rukia and Ichi Guo looked back at the pink haired noble girl as she quickly tried to push her tears from her eyes and straighten herself. "I... I haven't properly thanked you."

She grabbed her father's hand and pulled him over towards the two siblings and monster cat. "Ichi Guo, Xiao Ru, I'd like you to met my father, Ning Fengzhi. Papa, these two are Ichi Guo and Rukia, they are the ones who saved us when we were attacked by a Ten Thousand Year Storm Wrath Black Dragon."

"Is that so?" Ning Fengzhi said, seeming a little taken aback by just what it was that had threatened his daughter's life. "It seems as though I am in your debt. If their is anything I can do thank you, just say the word and I will see it done."

"Forget it. You don't owe us anything." Ichi Guo said in a dismissive manner, one that few had ever taken with the head of the third most powerful Sect in recent history. "We aren't the kind of creeps that thinks about a reward when they are saving someone."

Ning Fengzhi blinked in surprise before smiling again. "Hearing you say that, it makes me want to do something for you even more."

Rong Rong saw the opening, and jumped at her chance. "Daddy, when not bring them into our clan." Rong Rong interjected. "The two of you don't have a Clan of your own, and the Seven Treasured Glass Tower is one of the strongest clans there is. I'm sure that with our support you could go really far."

"... I would not be opposed to this..." Ning Fengzhi said, looking from his daughter to the siblings. It was a good offer. One that nearly anyone in the entire nation would have killed to have. The resources that the Seven Treasures Glass Tower clan could offer a budding Spirit Master were nothing to scoff at. And if they did join the clan, it would strength the clan's future even more.

The younger of the two looked surprised at the prospect of joining a clan, not that he could blame her. The idea of joining such a powerful clan had probably never occurred to them. Her mouth fumbled open for a few moments before she looked to her older brother for guidance.

"Sorry. Can't do." Ichi Guo said, surprising the gathered Spirit Masters. His expression wasn't anything like his sisters. It was... detached, old even.

It took Ning Rong Rong a moment to understand that her offer had been rejected, but the moment it got through to her she went into a panic. "What!? Why not!?" She shouted. "With the backing of my clan you would have power, money, training, everything you need in order to rise to the top of Spirit Master world! Why would you possibly turn that down!?"

"Freedom." Ichi Guo said, as if the single word explained everything. His eyes drifted over to Ning Rong Rong's father. "Tell me, how many times have you had to fight for a cause you didn't believe in out of obligation to your Clan? How many times have you been forced to standby and watch as people suffered and you couldn't use your power to help them because of you had to think about your station first?"

Ning Fengzhi didn't look away, but his face saddened somewhat. "A few time." He admitted.

"A few is too many." Ichi Guo said his hand brushing against his blade. "I might not seem to have much to you, but I do have this; when I fight, it is because I chose to. I will never fight a battle I don't believe in and I will never abandon a fight that I believe should be fought. That is why I will never bend my knee to anyone. I am the master of my soul and no one else." Rukia was looking up at her brother with wide eyes and held breath, as if committing his words to heart. "Can you honestly tell me that anything your clan has to offer can compete with that?"

"Of course it does! There's... there's..!" Rong Rong started to splutter but was stopped when her father placed a hand on her shoulder. "Daddy?"

"Princess, some things just can't be gotten, no matter how much you might want them." Ning Fengzhi said with a slight shake of the head.

"But... but I really wanted them to come with us." Rong Rong said, looking at Ichi Guo with tears coming back to her eyes.

Seeing that he was causing the girl to cry, Ichi Guo immeately became less comfortable. "Hey, come on now. None of that." He said as the girl started to pout. He had never been good at dealing with girl's crying. Not in his previous life and not in this one. Finally, he gave a heavy sigh and started to awkwardly rub at the back of his neck. "Listen, we might not join your clan but... if you ever need help... you know. Give us a haller, and we'll see what we can do to help."

"R...right. After all, we are friends, right?" Rukia added, seeming just as awkward as her brother.

"Yeah, friends." Rong Rong said, pushing back her tears. She was still sad that they wouldn't join her clan, but still hoping that she could one day have her dream team.

Ning Fengzhi smiled at his daughter, but then turned back to Ichi Guo. "Are you sure there isn't anything we can do for you? If not as payment than as a symbol of friendship."

"You really aren't going to let his go are you?" Ichi Guo snorted but his eyes wondered over to the tall man with silver hair. "Fine then, if you insist, then there is one thing I want." Everyone stared in absolute shock as Ichi Guo drew his sword and pointed it straight at silver haired man. "I want to fight you."

Chen Yan's grandfather looked down at Ichi Guo, his face expressionless, as if he hadn't heard what he had said and didn't see the blade pointed towards him. But then a strong spiritual pressure started to leak out of the man, bright pink light that lit up the darkening world surrounded him and the weaker Spirit Masters staggered under his presence. Ichi Guo didn't flinch under the pressure, just stared straight back at the man.

"If that is your request, then I will grant it." The man said, ignoring the panic that was spreading around them. "I, Chen Xin, the Sword DouLuo, will face you."

* * *

 **Most of this has been done for a while, but then I hit writers block on how to word shit. After that I just kind of put the thing to the side and now it has been so long that I have entirely forgotten who my Beta was in the first place... oops.**

 **I still feel like I am doing a crappy job of this, but I can't for the life of me get it to be any better.**

* * *

 **Challenges!**

* * *

 **I have decided to post my own challenges underneath some of my new chapters for the coming weeks to see if anyone will actually do them. I got a complete list of them on my profile page, but on one ever reads profiles.**

 **I will say though that just because I say it is a challenge doesn't mean I might not write it in the future if I can get enough support and manage to motivate myself.**

* * *

 **(Bleach X Boku no Hero Academia) :** **Teenage Mother Heroine?**

Squad Twelve had been using the same black hole to dump all of their spiritual waste from their experiments for years. They didn't realize there was another world on the other side of it, nor did they realize that the spiritual energies would cause the mutation of 80% of that world's human population. However, learning from past experience they decided to learn a bit about this world's culture before trying anything drastic. That was the excuse they told Rukia, anyways. Really they just wanted the young Captain to take her maternity leave. Now after a few misunderstandings, she was not only spying on this new world but also going to a school for upstart heroes on top of taking care of baby Ichika.


End file.
